Bar
by Becca the fiend
Summary: Every week, on the same day, at the same time, he would come into the bar, as if waiting for something. Doumeki just wants to know what. Series of interconnected one-shots. Eventually DouWata. Rather silly. AU. Rated for slight language.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: xxxholic ain't mine. It's CLAMP's. :3

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Doumeki had been working at the club for only a couple weeks when _he_ first walked in.

He had been alone when he first came into the establishment. And, during the time he stayed, he talked to no one. In fact, very few people seemed to notice the man at all, which Doumeki thought was odd. How could they not notice him, after all?

During that first night, the other man had only stayed for about an hour. He had slipped in the door, and leaned against a wall rather far away from the bar, never speaking, unless spoken to.

For months, the man returned to the club in the same manner, silent, and alone. Unfailably, the man would appear at the exact same time on the exact same day of the week. Every time, the man would stay for an hour, never ordering anything, and would leave just as quietly as he entered.

Doumeki, every time, was interested in this man. It seemed to him, after weeks of observing, that the man was looking for something, or someone, that he clearly hadn't found yet. Doumeki was unusually curious as to what this man was searching for, but, as he worked during the time the man came, he was never able to talk to this enigma of a person.

Finally, though, after months of this same routine, the man did something unexpected.

That day, when he'd come into the club, he'd looked almost dejected, and weary. Doumeki had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with this thing that the thin, bespectacled man was searching for. The rather downcast male made his way, this time, to the bar, taking the first empty seat he saw, which happened to be right in front of Doumeki.

Doumeki felt an inner glee at this change of events, but, as usual, his expression didn't even falter. The other man, however, didn't seem to notice the bartender's presence, being rather wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"Are you going to order?" Doumeki asked the thin man after several moments of silence. The man, who Doumeki noticed had rather striking blue eyes, jumped almost guiltily in surprise.

"Oh, right. Er.. just whatever is fine," the man said, waving a hand dismissively, barely taking notice of the taller man. Doumeki was almost offended, but something told him he shouldn't be. Oddly enough, Doumeki found him listening to this inner voice as he attempted to think of a drink to serve the blue eyed man.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Doumeki, and, uncharacteristically making a decision on a whim, he immediately set to work making a drink for the strange man before him. It wasn't long before the drink had been expertly mixed, and Doumeki was pouring the drink into a glass.

What Doumeki did next, however, he would not be able to explain, no matter how he tried on later occasions. He set the drink down in front of the dejected customer, and, his monotone voice and serious expression never faltering, spoke to the man.

"One Screaming Orgasm, on the house."

Needless to say, Doumeki rather enjoyed the other man's violent reaction.

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AN: this one I've had bouncing around in my head ever since my friend and I started this roleplay, and her character, a bartender, gave my character, a bar visitor, a drink called a "Screaming Orgasm" and said something similar to what Doumeki says here. I just couldn't resist having Doumeki do it, because it's such a Doumeki thing to do, in my opinion. But, of course only to Watanuki-kun. xD

I'm actually going to make this a series of semi-connected one-shots, so it'll be listed as incomplete for now. So far, I only have one more one-shot planned for this, but I hope I can come up with more. Keep in mind, I may change the status to 'complete' at any time, when I can't think of any more one-shots. But rest assured, you will have at least one more coming your way, when I find the time to type it up... Lol.

I hope you enjoyed. :D


	2. Destined Person

Disclaimer: xxxHolic isn't mine. The only thing that's mine is this crack-filled glory. And it doesn't gain me any money. ;_;

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"Watanuki-kun, did you know that you have a destined person?"

The Dimensional Witch had seemed so innocent when she asked the question. It was probably that false innocence that should have set alarm bells ringing in the thin man's head, but he'd been too distracted at the time to care.

"Really?" He remembered replying.

"Yes. And you two will be meeting soon," she had said in her mysterious voice saved for customers. Her gaze had become sly in a matter of seconds, but the man, whose back was still turned, hadn't noticed.

"Would you like a clue as to when you'll meet?" she'd asked.

Interested, the man had turned around to face the woman, who had schooled her expression back into the mysterious one she'd worn before. He had answered 'yes' to the woman, and she told him the day of the week, and the time, when Watanuki would meet his destined person.

As he was leaving for his apartment, the woman had called to him, informing him of a bar in which he and this person were destined to meet. The man had said nothing in response, but they both knew he'd heard her perfectly.

On the day that the woman had mentioned, the man had appeared at the club, a few minutes before the time the woman had stated, and waited for an hour, always searching the crowd for the person who he was destined to be with. He did not find this person, but was not yet deterred. The woman had not specifically stated that he would find the person within a week, after all.

It was then that Watanuki started the tradition of entering the bar to search for his destined person. He came on the same day of every week, a few minutes before the time he and the person were to meet, would wait an hour, and then leave. Endlessly, he would search the crowd for this person, hoping that, when he say the person, he would know that they were destined.

Never once did the blue-eyed man think to notice the staff of the bar, nor did he notice the golden gaze that was always upon him whilst he leaned inconspicuously against the far wall.

It had been months, and all Watanuki's searching seemed to have been fruitless thus far. He tried to bring it up with the woman, but she only told him that time was relative, leaving him feeling rather crestfallen.

Still, Watanuki went to the club as usual on the same day as usual, his morose mood unable to unearth him from the habit he'd formed already.

This time, however, the man had decided to sit at the bar, not paying attention to the bartender in front of him, and the intense golden gaze focused solely on him.

"Are you going to order anything?" The bartender had asked, startling the distracted man.

Watanuki vaguely remembered telling the bartender to get him whatever, still barely registering the person in front of him. A few minutes later, the bartender was placing an unknown drink in front of him, and Watanuki took the time to study the man's serious expression as he spoke.

"One Screaming Orgasm, on the house," the man had said.

It took a few moments before the words sank in, but when they did, the bespectacled man positively exploded in rage and embarrassment, slamming some money on the table before storming out violently. Prior to this, however, the man didn't resist a loud screech that drew the eyes of everyone in the club to the scene.

"_WHAT_?! You insensitive bastard!"

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AN: To everyone that reviewed last chapter, thank you guys! Also thanks to everyone that has given me a review on other stories. I write these for you guys, a lot of the time, because you boost my ego. :D (Teehee) Really, I'd be nothing without you guys. Just thought you all should know, even though I don't usually reply to reviews. -heart-

This is Watanuki's side to the first time they meet. This wasn't the other oneshot I'd planned at the time when I was typing the first one, so you can at least count on one more oneshot in this series. :3 I bet you all are super excited, lol. It has Yuuko being Yuuko in it, so I'm looking forward to writing it. Eehee. And, since I have no homework tonight, you might actually get it tonight. Ahaha, I spoil you guys. xD But do note that I won't always be able to update like this, if I come up with other ideas for this. This week is just a particularly easy one for me in terms of homework. Which is amazing, but beside the point.

I hope you guys enjoyed this one, as well. I love all you guys who favorite this, and add it to your alerts and review. It makes my day, it really does.


	3. Scenario

Disclaimer: xxxHolic still isn't mine. ;_;

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It had been a few weeks since their initial meeting, and the blue-eyed man had not once returned to the bar. The bartender couldn't help but feel a vague sense of loss at this discovery, though he couldn't quite explain why. Sure, he thought that the other man was interesting, and certainly would be good entertainment, based on his reaction to the drink name. But it wasn't like the bartender had known the customer personally.

Perhaps, the bartender mused on the day when the other man would've usually come, he really shouldn't have succumbed to his urge on that day. He was pretty sure that was what had scared the customer off, and earned him a severe lecture from the manager. (The other man had incidentally left the exact correct amount to cover the drink, despite the fact that the bartender had offered it 'on the house.') Since the man had been coming for months, and hadn't gotten anything once in the time he'd been there, the bartender didn't see the big loss, but he didn't try to explain this to the manager. He needed the money, after all, and a little scolding and the price of the drink being taken out of his paycheck wouldn't set him back all that much.

At the time when the other man would usually enter, the bartender instinctively shifted his gaze to the door for the briefest of seconds, not expecting what happened next, in the slightest.

The doors to the club slammed open in that instant when he looked up, revealing a towering woman with ridiculously long black hair kept in a simple ponytail. Many of the patrons turned to look, and the bartender could sense the woman had a dramatic flair.

He would've looked away after an instant, had he not noticed the familiar figure literally being dragged into the bar by the strange woman. The blue eyed man, who'd seemed so quiet all the other times he'd visited the bar, complained and protested rather loudly behind the woman, being extremely vocal about his current displeasure.

The woman seemed to pay no heed to the man's violent protests, instead placing him in the conveniently empty bar stool right in front of the bartender, and sitting in the seat next to him. Once again, the man seemed to pay no mind to the bartender, but the bartender was astute enough to notice the twitch of the other man's eye when he glanced over at the bartender. Said bartender decided to ignore this, much like the woman was doing.

"What can I do for you?" he asked the pair. The woman smiled rather slyly at the bartender, before addressing the younger man next to her.

"Ooooh, is this him, Watanuki-kun? The one you couldn't stop talking about?"

Watanuki flushed a brilliant red from what seemed to be a mixture of anger and mortification. He shot a glare at the woman that looked like it was meant to be intimidating, but merely served to amuse the strange woman.

"Shut up, Yuuko-san! Why did we even have to come here, anyway?" Watanuki hissed, ignoring the woman's question entirely.

"I'll take that as a yes," the woman said thoughtfully. "Shizuka Doumeki, correct?" the woman addressed the bartender.

"Yes, that is my name," the bartender replied, a single eyebrow raising in question as to how the woman knew his name when he had no nametag to speak of. (This was for security and personal reasons, really.)

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doumeki-kun," the woman smiled, this time lacking her usual evil edge in her expression. Doumeki bowed his head slightly forward in respect.

"Likewise."

"Yuuko, you didn't answer my question," Watanuki reminded the woman, clearly irritated by being left out. Yuuko chuckled.

"Oh Watanuki, have you no manners? I was only introducing myself to Doumeki-kun, as we've never met before. It's polite," she said, as if explaining something to a toddler. Watanuki's eye twitched again.

"Yuuko," the man started, practically growling.

"Oh Watanuki-kun, are you really this dense? You met Doumeki on this same day, yes?"

"Yes...." the man seemed oddly unwilling to admit this, but still seemed rather confused as to where this was leading. Doumeki, however, sensed some sort of ulterior motive from this woman. He had a feeling, though, that he was going to enjoy it in the end, so he kept quiet for now.

"And what time was it that he served you the drink?" the woman prodded.

"How should I-" he started, before Doumeki cut him off, reciting the time-that, for some reason, remained etched in his mind-to the minute. Watanuki looked mildly creeped out, but Yuuko grinned in a rather Cheshire-cat-like manner.

Watanuki went from mildly freaked out to horrified in a matter of seconds when something seemed to occur to him. His face went white, and he shook his head in disbelief, his blue eyes wide behind wire-rimmed glasses.

"You don't mean... he isn't.... Why me?!" the man moaned in despair, burying his face in his hands. Yuuko only giggled in response, ordering a glass of sake while the man wallowed in his despair.

As he poured the sake, Doumeki had a feeling he'd soon be seeing a lot more of this man in front of him, most likely accompanied by this mysterious woman.

Oddly enough, Doumeki couldn't find a thing wrong with this scenario, at all.

* * *

AN: I hope this clearsthings up a bit. Yes, the bartender in the last chapter was, in fact, Doumeki. However, since the first chapter never used Watanuki's name, I decided to keep it like that in the second chapter, from Watanuki's point of view, since neither really had a way to know the other's name, in those chapters. But now, with Yuuko around, they have access to each other's names. Which only Doumeki really cares about at the moment. Watanuki's still crying in the corner about the fact that Doumeki is what he is. Which'll be explained next chapter, hopefully. :D

Other than that. This was ridiculously fun to write, as usual. As for Yuuko's attire/hairstyle, I'm thinking of what she was wearing when they got the red metal bat, and saw the lady with the computer addiction. (Oh Yuuko, I love you so. ;_; ) This'll be my last update for tonight, and possibly the last one for the rest of the week. I'm not sure. We'll see what comes up. Hopefully I can get the oneshot I kind of have planned for this up in the next week, but it depends.

I hope you guys enjoyed. Like I said, you guys keep me going when you give me feedback and favorite/alert my stories. It stokes my ego so nicely, even if I don't reply. I always make sure to read my reviews. (They brighten my day. :D)

I'm shutting up now. Eeeheehee.


	4. Tell

Disclaimer: xxxHolic belongs to CLAMP. I only wish I was as brilliant as them. (Because then I'd have some idea as to wtf is going on in that series, lolol.)

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The day had started out as a pretty average day. The sun was shining brightly, and the birds were singing all happy-like, pissing off quite a few of the poor people who were trying to sleep in while they could. Doumeki had woken up that morning at some ridiculously early hour, like 9:00 AM, or something, despite the fact that he had the day off today. Doumeki had always been an early riser, anyway.

The morning had passed pretty quickly, with Doumeki practicing archery, as he was prone to do in his spare time, because he found it quite fun. (Which the author would agree with, if she were any good at archery...)

It was just after 1:00 PM, when Doumeki had just finished showering and dressing, when there was a knock on the door. With his short hair still dripping occasionally, he proceeded to the entryway of the temple, and opened the traditional-styled doors.

Yuuko stood on the temple's front porch, donned in a pair of dark wash jeans and a red tank top, her long black hair fixed in a loose bun. The tall woman smiled at the younger man when she saw him opening the door.

"Hello, Doumeki-kun. I was on my way over to Watanuki's place, since it is his day off, and I thought it would be nice to pay him a visit. Would you care to accompany me?"

The woman posed the statement as a question, but her eyes clearly told that she already knew the answer Doumeki was going to give. Which, Doumeki mused, was probably the truth. The woman _did_ give him the impression of knowing a lot more than she let on.

"Sure," Doumeki replied, unsurprised by Yuuko's accompanying knowing smile. He slipped on the pair of shoes by the door, grabbed his nearby wallet and keys, and left the house, making sure the door was locked behind him.

He and Yuuko walked to Watanuki's apartment in a comfortable silence, though it wasn't exactly the silence of two who are very close. It was more of a silence between two people who weren't much for small talk. (Though that was more Doumeki's thing. Yuuko could initiate small talk easily, but probably knew it would be rather pointless around Doumeki, anyway. Though Doumeki had a feeling that Yuuko also had an ulterior motive to not initiate small talk with him now, and that motive most likely would result in embarrassing Watanuki, so Doumeki really didn't mind, anyway.)

When they arrived at Watanuki's apartment, Yuuko took the liberty of knocking on the door, Doumeki perfectly content to stand a little ways behind her, still not saying anything. There was a distant "coming!" heard from the depths of the apartment, and Yuuko adopted her usual wolfish grin.

A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a thin, bespectacled man with piercing blue eyes, wearing a shirt about five sizes too big for him, and a pair of sweatpants. The man glared at his unexpected guests, emitting a low growl of annoyance.

"Yuuko, it's my day off. Don't you have anyone else to bother?" the man whined, not noticing the other man in the hallway just yet.

"I just wanted to brighten Watanuki-kun's day," the crimson-eyed woman said innocently. "And I brought Doumeki-kun with me, too~"

This caused the thin man's eye to twitch, as he noticed his second guest. He heaved an annoyed sigh, stepping aside to allow the woman and the golden-eyed bartender through.

"Ugh, fine, come in."

Once the others had come into the apartment, and the door had been firmly shut and locked behind them, Watanuki again turned to his guests.

"What do you want?" he said impatiently, crossing his arms whilst jutting out his hip to the side and tapping his foot in a manner that reminded Doumeki strongly of an annoyed woman. Yuuko grinned rather evilly, clearly plotting something.

"I want food! And alcohol!" the woman exclaimed, punching the air exuberantly.

"What?! Why do you always insist I feed you? And I don't have any alcohol here. It's bad for you, you know."

"Oh, that's okay, Watanuki-kun, I brought my own liquor," the woman stated simply, continuing on to demand a rather difficult dish.

Watanuki flailed in protest, but started working on the food, anyway, muttering something about how Yuuko was "damn lucky I had the ingredients already." Based on Yuuko's current imitation of the Cheshire Cat, Doumeki had a feeling this was no coincidence.

While Watanuki was making lunch, Yuuko and Doumeki took it upon themselves to sit at Watanuki's (rather small) dining table, which was just next to the kitchen. Suddenly, Yuuko spoke up.

"Doumeki, would you like to know something interesting?" the woman asked with a blatantly false innocent air.

"Yuuko, what are you doing?" Watanuki piped up from the kitchen, sounding slightly panicked. His guests ignored him.

"Sure," Doumeki replied.

"Well, you and Watanuki are destined soul mates. It was inevitable that you two would meet at the time you did, after all."

"Whaaaaaaa! Don't tell him that!" Watanuki wailed, his face turning a vibrant, and rather attractive, in Doumeki's opinion, shade of red. He was, once again, ignored, save for a widening of the grin on Yuuko's part.

"Oh. That makes sense," Doumeki stated calmly after a moment.

"Wait, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

* * *

AN: Argh, I dislike this chapter. It refused to cooperate. :( But, I wanted to get it out there beforethe school week started, and also, I wanted to have it so I could write my important little author's note in here.

For the next few chapters, I will be accepting reader requests. That's right, you can tell me something you might want to see in this little collection of one-shots! Keep in mind, I might not use your suggestion if I can't get into it, because I like giving you guys something I enjoyed writing, because then I feel like you'll enjoy reading it more. But, since I have no more ideas for this, but I don't want to give it up yet, I figured I'd ask you guys. Plus, you guys who review/fave my stories are the reason I still write and post stuff here. I figure I'll give you guys a chance to specifically ask me to write something you'd enjoy reading in my style.

However, I'm probably not going to write a smut scene in this one. Not because I'm shy about it, (but that is a factor, lolol), but more because I don't think I'd be able to get into it for this particular story. As for the continuation of smut for 'Daydreaming,' I promise you, I'm going to work on that sometime soon. I've suddenly developed a social life, and I have a bunch of other things I'd like to work on, so I haven't had as much time to write it. Plus, I don't want to write it when my parent's might see. It'd be really really awkward.... But I'll try and get that to you sometime soon.

Anyway, just review here or send me a PM with your ideas. I probably won't do all of them, but I'd still like to hear your ideas. So, request away!

I love all you guys. I really do read my reviews all the time. It's actually really sad. When it's like.. 3 in the morning, I read my reviews here to entertain myself. Ahaha. You guys are great. -heart-


	5. Interlude: Jealousy

Disclaimer: xxxHolic isn't mine. The only thing that belongs to me is Bradley. (And I don't think anyone wants him....)

AN: This chapter is inspired by TheLadyPendragon's request for one of the bar customers flirting with Watanuki. I hope you like it, dear. :)

WARNING: Lots of swear words, and arrogant bastards. Read at your own risk.

* * *

Doumeki was normally a pretty apathetic guy. Other humans - save from those in his family - generally had no effect on his emotions, whether it be negative or positive. Every now and then, Doumeki would feel a twinge of some sort of emotion for another person who he had not spent years getting to know, but that was rare.

At least, until a certain blue-eyed, bespectacled man came into his life (literally) kicking and screaming. Doumeki was pretty sure the thinner man was the personification of everything he himself wasn't, and also the human embodiment of the only exception in the very core of Doumeki's personality characteristics.

Today was no different, Doumeki was finding.

Watanuki had, once again, come in to the club at which Doumeki worked, and sat at the empty barstool in front of the golden-eyed bartender. The smaller male generally only got maybe one drink when he did this, just so he wasn't taking the space of a paying customer, and so he didn't look like he was only here to see the archer/bartender (which no one really believed, anyway).

The time had been passing in an almost pleasant manner for Doumeki and Watanuki, since Watanuki hadn't yelled at Doumeki _quite_ as much as usual. Watanuki had even agreed to go to dinner with Doumeki after his shift (since the bartender was only working the early evening this particular day).

In fact, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, until _that man_ arrived.

"Kohneeeecheeeeeeewaaah," came a voice from behind Watanuki, interrupting the conversation he and Doumeki had been engaged in previously. The two Japanese men looked to the source of the strangely spoken word, finding a young-looking foreigner smiling rather pompously at them.

"_Do you speak English?_" the foreigner asked in heavily accented Japanese. Or, at least, Doumeki thought it might've been Japanese. It was more of a strange mixture between English and something resembling Japanese. Doumeki wasn't even certain he knew what the man was asking, due to the way the stranger drew out all the wrong syllables.

"_A little bit,_" Watanuki replied politely, smiling in his usual quiet manner at the obvious tourist. The other man flashed another winning grin at Watanuki, and Doumeki could've sworn he saw something rather predatory flash through the man's hazel eyes. Doumeki's own golden eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent, settling for eavesdropping for now. (He knew English, too, after all.)

"Finally! It is so hard to find anyone who speaks enough English to understand an _American_," the newcomer exclaimed, rather imperiously. One of Watanuki's eyebrows rose warily, but the 22-year-old made no comment on the man's exclamation.

"Did you need any help, sir?" Watanuki inquired, as kind as ever. The American, who was slightly shorter that Watanuki, but considerably tanner (for a white boy, that is), gave the Japanese man a look that Doumeki could only classify as hungry, and Doumeki decided right then and there that this man was annoying. However, for the moment, the bartender remained silent, preferring to watch the events unfold in front of him.

"Oh, don't call me sir, it makes me feel old. I'm only 21, after all. My name's Bradley, but you can also call me Brad, if you like," the American with the light brown hair said obnoxiously. Watanuki blinked in surprise at the man's rudeness. Clearly, the traveler had not taken the time to look up Japanese customs before he'd come. For some reason, this annoyed Doumeki a lot more than usual.

"Er.. okay. Did you need help?" Watanuki repeated, still a little taken aback at the man's appalling manners.

"Well, I'm supposed to go somewhere tomorrow, but I need directions to the place, and everything's written in Japanese here. You can read Japanese, right?"

Doumeki again felt a strong surge of dislike towards this presumptuous American. He had to exercise all his self-control in restraining himself from saying something along the lines of: "Of course everything's written in Japanese. We're in _Japan_." Somehow, Doumeki restrained himself, and was promptly distracted by how close this Bradley character got to _his_ Watanuki while the poor man tried to give him directions to this place the American was looking for. There was no way Doumeki was going to let this fly, not with _his_ Watanuki.

"Um, is that all you needed?" Watanuki asked once he'd given the directions, and had found the man still way too close to his person. Brad leered at the blue-eyed man in response.

"Eh, I think you're a pretty cool guy. Hope you don't mind me socializing with you for a while," Bradley stated with an irritating amount of self-assuredness in his voice. The man took a seat across from Watanuki before the older man had a chance to respond, and promptly started a conversation that was ripe with arrogance and barely concealed flirting.

Doumeki didn't restrain his glare towards the foreigner as he ordered shot after shot of vodka. The 22-year-old hoped the stupid American either died of alcohol poisoning, the little jerk. Or, at the very least, passed out, which didn't seem likely, as the stupid little mother fucker seemed to hold his liquor well. God damnit.

The only positive to this situation was the fact that Watanuki was either oblivious to, or completely ignoring, the American's attempts at flirtation. Doumeki felt an inner sense of vindictive pleasure at this, because at least Watanuki paid attention when he flirted, and the man usually responded to his attempts. Albeit, it was generally in the form of violence and threats and yelling, but still, it was something. At least Doumeki was worth responding to, as opposed to this little shithead Bradley trying to steal Doumeki's man now.

Finally, it was nearing the end of Doumeki's shift, and the rather irritated bartender strode to the back room to drop off his apron and punch out for the day. He was back to the bar where Watanuki and the dumb foreigner sat in a new record time of under a minute, just in time to catch the American propose an offer to Watanuki.

"What do you say we ditch this place, and you come on over to my hotel room, yeah? You're a pretty cute guy."

"Well, I-" Watanuki began to respond to the arrogant American's request, before he was cut off by a familiar deep voice.

"He already has plans. With _me_," Doumeki said rather forcefully, in clear English. For effect, he placed his arm around Watanuki's shoulders, allowing himself a moment of inner glee when the man didn't make an effort to move the stronger man's arm. (In fact, Doumeki almost thought he saw Watanuki lean slightly into the embrace, but he wasn't sure.)

Bradley saw this, and looked between the two for a moment in confusion, before his face twisted as though he'd just smelled something unpleasant.

"Oh. Fine then. Thanks for the help," Bradley said rather frigidly, leaving without another word. Doumeki smirked after his retreating figure. Doumeki had won this time.

Watanuki, in the meantime, turned his head upwards slightly to look at his companion, and caught Doumeki's triumphant smirk as they, too, started for the exit. The shorter man rolled his eyes, smiling slightly.

"You were jealous, weren't you?" Watanuki's voice held an air of light teasing, and Doumeki had the urge to smile back at the man, but restrained himself in favor of his usual stoic expression.

"Hn."

"Ahahahaha! You were so jealous!" Watanuki downright giggled at this, seeming way too amused by this, and poked Doumeki playfully in the side, turning so that Doumeki had to drop his arm from the man's shoulders. (Doumeki didn't take it personally, though. He knew how Watanuki was, after all. Besides, this time, it had been more to piss off that stupid Bradley fellow, anyway.)

"You didn't have anything to worry about, though," Watanuki said after a moment, his voice soft, and almost serious. "He was an arrogant jackass, anyway."

* * *

AN: Yeah, so, when I was given the idea of Watanuki being flirted on by one of the bar customers, I had 2 different ideas. Either Bradley showed up and did what he does best (which is be an arrogant a-hole), or I'd have my older character, Muscle Man, come in here to terrorize Watanuki. Obviously, I chose Bradley. Muscle Man, by the way, was character I once created because I wanted to write a fanfic with someone totally creepy hitting on Light Yagami from Death Note. And hece, Muscle Man was born. Basically, Muscle Man is a body builder with a little boy fetish. I never got to use him, so I thought of using him here, but I decided against it. Muscle Man (THE Muscle Man of the world) prefers little boys, and 22-year-olds are too old for him. Plus, he's into Light more. xD (Ahh, but I do miss you, Muscle Man...)

So, since I didn't end up using Muscle Man, Bradley was born. And, even though he's a pompous jackass whose only hobbies are being arrogant and being a jackass, I love him. Ahahaha. Oh Bradley, you silly bastard you. Bradley thinks Watanuki is hot, but Doumeki just won't let that fly. Doumeki's sooooo jealous. (Really, he is, because Bradley's totally trying to steal his man! And yeah, Doumeki and Watanuki are soulmates in this, but that doesn't mean Doumeki's perfect. He's entitled to hate people like Bradley. Because I'm sure you all think he's an ass, too. Which he is, but I love him, anyway, lolol.)

God, I had so much fun writing this. My favorite part is where Bradley tries to get Watanuki back to his hotel room, and Doumeki basically says, "Bitch, back the fuck off my man." Of course, Doumeki's much better at saying it with less swaer words, but still. Lol. Or maybe my favorite part is where Watanuki calls him a jackass. xD

I'm still taking requests from you guys, if you have any, so don't be shy! Definately send some my way, or give me your thoughts on Bradley, whatever. Feedback makes me so happy~

The next one of these may or may not include a drunk Watanuki. But this time, Watanuki would NOT attempt to seduce Doumeki. (Not yet, anyway. :D)

I hope you liked it! :3 (These chapters just keep getting longer and longer, lolol. though my novels for author's notes probably don't help.... ^^; )


	6. Realize

Disclaimer: Not mine. ;_;

* * *

It had been a year. 365 full days had passed since that first day Watanuki walked into the bar. Since Doumeki had first seen him.

In honor of this occasion, Yuuko had decided to host a picnic in a quiet, nearby park. She had, of course, invited Doumeki along, much to Watanuki's apparent displeasure, and both her and Doumeki's amusement.

The day itself had passed much like one would expect, really. Yuuko had engaged in some ridiculous games, in a typical Yuuko fashion, forcing Watanuki to join her, while Doumeki either watched, or joined in for lack of anything better to do. (And because he enjoyed annoying Watanuki, but that was entirely beside the point.)

Of course, Watanuki had been assigned to make the food, which, of course, he complained about profusely, though the taste of his food said otherwise. Doumeki was, once again, amazed at how Watanuki could make food so utterly _delicious_. It was almost insane, how well that man could cook.

By the time the sun was setting, the group decided it was time to go home. Yuuko had disappeared quickly after saying good bye, leaving Doumeki and Watanuki with one another. Doumeki noticed Watanuki struggling with his things as he helped the smaller man pack up to leave.

"Need help?" Doumeki offered.

"Sure, that'd be great!" the blue-eyed man replied, smiling a little in Doumeki's direction. The bartender blinked a little at the sight of it, unused to the man's (rather attractive) smile being directed at him.

The two walked to Watanuki's apartment in a comfortable silence for once, which Doumeki decided was also a nice change of pace. Sure, Watanuki's yelling was amusing, but companionable silence was also enjoyable every now and then. Plus, it was less dangerous for the archer's hearing when Watanuki was being quiet.

Finally, the two made it to Watanuki's apartment, and Doumeki placed the items he was carrying just inside the door, expecting to be shooed away promptly, anyway. However, he was stopped just outside Watanuki's door by a single word.

"Doumeki."

The bartender turned to face his blue-eyed companion as silently as usual, but, for once, the bespectacled man hovering just inside the doorway said nothing about it.

"Thanks for the help," Watanuki said quietly, closing the door immediately afterwards. Doumeki stared at the door to his friend's apartment for a moment, before turning around and heading for his own home.

Doumeki had long since discovered that his underlying feelings for Watanuki were no longer underlying, and that he definitely cared for the man. And, of course, he'd also come to believe that Watanuki's feelings would change soon, or had already changed.

Maybe, just maybe, Doumeki thought, Watanuki beginning to realize this, too.

* * *

AN: As you can see, I decided against using a drunk Watanuki for this chapter. If I can think of something with a drunk Watanuki, I'll use it, but, as of now, it's unlikely he'll appear. Because I already have a drunk Watanuki story, and I can't really think of anything more original for drunk Watanuki to do. So.. yeah, no drunk Watanuki yet. Maybe.

Anywho. I realized I'd started to stray off of the original purpose of this, and the way I originally wanted it written, so this is not only way to get us back on track plot-wise, but to get myself back on track style-wise. However, I'll keep the chapter with Bradley in here as connected to this story. Think of it as a little interlude filled with crack. xD

Uhm. I don't have all that much to say about this one otherwise. The last line kept bouncing around in my head, so I formed a scenario around it. And, because my quality has been slipping as of late, I waited a couple days, re-read it, and fixed it up a little more. So.. I hope it's better than the chapters have started getting. I had to put myself back into check here. Lol.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review. I'm trying to get better about replying to those, now. Or at least the ones I have more to say to than "thanks. :)" but I do thank everyone who adds this to their faves/alerts, and everyone who reviews. You guys are amazing. :)


	7. Answers

Disclaimer: xxxHolic doesn't belong to me. I only wish I was that cool.

* * *

Sometimes, on the days when he least expected it, Yuuko would show up at his family's temple, and announce she was throwing a party for the hell of it. Of course, today, as one of Doumeki's relatively quiet days off, was one of those days.

Doumeki had been reading in one of the inner rooms of his family's temple, and had been considering making dinner soon, when there was a knock at the door. Already, Doumeki had a pretty strong suspicion as to just who was waiting on his doorstep as he made his way through the house. These premonitions were confirmed when he heard that familiarly loud voice admonishing the crimson-eyed woman.

Needless to say, Doumeki was not surprised when he opened the temple's front door to find Yuuko Ichihara and her part-time worker standing and flailing respectively at the threshold. The Dimensional Witch had invited herself in promptly, announcing that she was throwing a party for the three of them at Doumeki's family temple, basically, and demanded that Watanuki make food and bring alcohol.

As expected, Watanuki reacted violently and loudly at this, but complied to the strange woman's requests, anyway.

Unusually, however, Yuuko did, in fact, manage to convince the smaller man to partake in some of the large amounts of alcohol that Doumeki was fortunate to procure from his job. (There was a reason the golden-eyed man was a bartender, and it wasn't just because the job paid well, though that was definitely a plus side.)

After returning from fetching more alcohol from the storehouse, however, Doumeki came to the conclusion that Yuuko had slipped something in with the spastic man's drink, based on how he was acting now.

Upon Doumeki's re-entry to the room in which the 'party' was being held, he was bombarded with the sight of the bespectacled man running around the edges of the room, squealing "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" as he went, and wearing what looked suspiciously like a pair of Doumeki's work pants on his head. How Watanuki had gotten those pants in the first place, Doumeki would never know.

The smaller man continued doing this for a full ten minutes, whilst his companions consumed more of their own drinks and looked on. Finally, the thin man scampered back to the table on which his cup of alcohol sat, making an accompanying "whoosh"-ing sound as he went.

Watanuki took another swig of his drink, giggled, and proceeded to jump on top of Doumeki's coffee table, still wearing the black pants of unknown origin on his head.

"Boy down to the great Watanuki-sama!" the man demanded. Moments later, he doubled over, giggling. The other adults in the room said nothing, Doumeki raising a single skeptic eyebrow, and Yuuko chuckling in response to the 22-year-old's antics.

Watanuki jumped down from the coffee table, skipping towards the table at which his companions sat. He was once again reaching for his drink when he suddenly stopped, arm halfway towards his cup, and simply fell forward, half landing in Doumeki's lap in the process.

Worried, Doumeki inspected the man, relieved to find that he had merely passed out. The worst side-effect of this would probably only be Watanuki's killer hangover come morning, so Doumeki wasn't terribly concerned anymore. Hangovers weren't all that bad, after all. Vaguely, Doumeki noticed that the pants on Watanuki's head had, in fact, been his, and he decided he'd rather not inquire anything further on the matter.

Yuuko chuckled lightly, looking at her part-time worker with an almost motherly expression.

"Looks like he couldn't handle all that alcohol, after all," the woman said affectionately. Doumeki gave her a look.

"You slipped something in his drink." It was a statement. Not a question. The woman smiled fondly at the archer.

"You needed to ask me something," the woman said simply. Doumeki was silent for a moment, his gaze directed at the peaceful expression on Watanuki's face as he slept, still half sprawled across the bartender's lap.

"You never host these 'parties' at your place," Doumeki finally said after a length of silence, "but both you and Watanuki spend most of your time there. They're either at my place, or his."

Yuuko's seemed to be waiting for something as she focused on the younger man, obviously realizing he intended to continue.

"Why? Is it because of me?"

"So you did realize," the woman's expression was one of unmistakable pride, which leaked into her voice as she spoke. Doumeki couldn't help but feel that he'd passed some sort of test in this woman's eyes through his question. He said nothing yet as the woman regarded him.

"The place where Watanuki works is a shop," Yuuko began, "but it is not a normal shop. My shop grants wishes. However, the shop doesn't grant just any wish. Only those who need the shop can enter it, or even see it. You, who are currently capable of granting your own wishes, have no need for my shop. Therefore, you cannot enter it."

Doumeki is silent for a brief moment, considering all that Yuuko has just told him.

"Watanuki needs the shop, then," Doumeki finally mutters, noticing Yuuko's nod out of the corner of his eye. He looks up at the woman again, his gaze intense, but full of questions. "Why?"

"That, Doumeki-kun, is something Watanuki will tell you, in time."

* * *

AN: Well, now you know that Yuuko-san's shop is still one that grants wishes. But why is Watanuki working there? Ffffff, I don't know yet. Lol. I haven't decided. Which is why Yuuko tells doumeki that only Watanuki can say what his wish is. Because I haven't figured it out. Hooray for creative liscence! xD

Aside from that, I also lied about the drunk Watanuki, it seems. Though he's not only drunk, because Yuuko did slip something else into his drink, but only something that could speed up the becoming drunk process. Ahaha, but man, that was fun to imagine Watanuki doing all that stuff while drunk. How he managed to get ahold of Doumeki's pants is still a mystery, though....

And yes, I do realize this seems a lot like episode 18 of the xxxHolic season 1 anime, and that corresponding manga chapter. But I didn't actually realize that until after I'd thought it up, lol. And then I didn't want to change it, so... yeah. But Yuuko is definitely helpful for explainations. Yusss.

And that's all I really have to say for now. Tell me what you thought, yes? I like reading reviews, even if I don't always reply. Oh, and I'll have a Halloween fic up sometime later in the week for you guys. Because I wrote it out on paper this weekend, and now I just have to type it up. When I have time, that is...

I'm listening to "Hot Mess" by Cobra Starship. It's such a catchy song~


	8. Sense

Disclaimer: xxxholic isn't mine. I would get way too confused. And I can't draw that well, lolol.

* * *

Months had gone by before Watanuki finally saw it fit to introduce Doumeki to his other friends.

Admittedly, Doumeki had never really considered Watanuki having other contacts besides himself and Yuuko-san. Not to say that Doumeki thought of Watanuki as friendless, but... it really was quite a complicated thing to explain.

In the end, though, Doumeki wasn't surprised in the least when he met the two others who consisted of Watanuki's close circle of friends.

They all met on a certain fine spring day, which just so happened to be Watanuki's birthday, during another one of Yuuko's "parties" - though this one had an actual reason, since it _was_ a certain man's birthday. Of the two women Doumeki met that day, he recognized one as being a girl from his old high school, Himawari Kunogi.

She, too, seemed to remember him from the student council meetings, though the two had never talked much outside of the occasional necessary polite speech. All the same, Himawari greeted him just as cheerily as any normal person would greet an old childhood friend.

The second of Watanuki's two friends, however, did make Doumeki somewhat curious. Kohane, as the girl was called, was clearly only in middle school, and Doumeki knew for a fact that Watanuki had no siblings to speak of. He decided to make a mental note to ask about the girl later.

Though Doumeki had always secretly enjoyed torturing Watanuki along with Yuuko-san, he quickly learned that Watanuki's reactions to just about anything were a million times more entertaining when he was interacting with the whole of his social circle.

Very quickly, Doumeki discovered the joys of riling Watanuki up, then plugging the ear nearest Watanuki when the man inevitably started screaming, eliciting a "Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun are so close!" from Himawari. Infallibly, Watanuki would respond to the woman by insisting that she "had it all wrong" and was "misunderstanding" the situation. That man was _so_ in denial.

All in all, though, Doumeki felt that something was somehow right with the whole group of them together. Like they all belonged here, together, and with Watanuki. Despite his and Watanuki's constant 'spats,' and Doumeki's once disinterest in Kunogi, and Kohane's young age, it was as if the red string of fate had interconnected all of them, all stemming from the blue-eyed man currently flailing about something-or-other Yuuko had done. And, somehow, Doumeki felt almost peaceful amongst all of it.

It was certainly a weird, but not unpleasant, feeling.

However, something refused to leave his mind as the day continued, and, for a long time, Doumeki found himself staring at Watanuki, while mulling that stubborn thought over. Finally, after ten minutes of this staring, Watanuki couldn't pretend to ignore it any longer, and he turned towards the bartender with a glare.

"_Why_ have you been staring at me for so long?" the man snapped irritably, huffing and crossing his arms. Doumeki's expression stayed just as calm as the day the two met as he replied.

"I was just thinking. Everything makes so much sense now."

"Wait.... What the hell?"

* * *

AN: What does Doumeki think makes sense? Well, he's thinking: "No wonder Watanuki's gay." That's what he's thinking. Because all Watanuki's friends, except Doumeki, are girls. Wtf. He's such a homo, d'aww. Also, in this story, Watanuki didn't go to Doumeki and Himawari's high school. I dunno why, but I'm thinking maybe money issues, or something. Because they _did_ go to a private school, and all.

Mmm, I'm thinking this story will have 15 chapters total, so now we're about half-way through. Teehee. And, for your information, I have, in fact, decided what Watanuki's wish is in this universe. However, you won't be learning that until the last chapter. Nyeheheheh. I do, actually, have reason for that. And I already have that part planned out in my head. Fufufu. So be looking forward to that. Also, be on the look out in a chapter or two for drama~! I'm very excited for it.

Also, if you've noticed, there are very slight changes on this story. Basically, I gave all the chapters little chapter titles that basically sum up the chapter in one or two words. Just thought I'd point that nifty little feature out.

And now I'm shutting up, because I have homework, and I'm so so so sleepy right now. Don't be afreaid to tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Loved it? Thought is was decent, but not all that great? Hated it? Have constructive criticism? Any of it, feel free to say it. I love getting reviews. It fuels me on.


	9. Price

Disclaimer: Not mine. ;_;

* * *

Doumeki still didn't know how exactly it happened. One minute, Watanuki was perfectly fine, if not being an idiot as usual, and the next minute, he was unconscious, and something was obviously wrong, and _Doumeki didn't know what to do about it_.

He remembered moving forward, and picking up the smaller man, first thinking of taking him straight to the hospital. Yet, once he had Watanuki cradled in his arms, his legs started running without his immediate consent. He thought at first it was shock, until he realized that he was not going in the direction of the hospital.

Somehow, the bartender knew just who was behind this as his body raced towards a place he had never been to. A shop he had never seen, because he did not need it. A place it was now necessary for him to see.

Indeed, the man was not surprised when he finally arrived at the building with the strange mix of Eastern and Western architecture, with the familiar woman standing on the porch looking far, far too grim. He doesn't waste his breath or time trying to explain as the woman moves towards where he stands in the middle of the yard. He just _knows_ that she knew what happened before he even got there.

"You have a wish," the woman says as she nears the golden-eyed bartender, "but... are you willing to pay the price?"

Doumeki doesn't even miss a beat at her serious tone nor at her question. This is a question he can answer without any hesitation, definitely.

"I'll pay the price. Just save him," the man says, and there's a strong hint of desperation in his normally so controlled voice. The woman only smiles slightly at him, before instructing him to place the volatile part-time worker in one of the rooms, while she does the rest of the work. Doumeki does so promptly, anxious to save the smaller male.

After Doumeki has executed Yuuko's instructions, and had paid the price for the other man's safety, he waits in the hallway just outside the room in which Yuuko and Watanuki reside. While he waits for the bespectacled man to wake up, he reflects.

It's amazing how you can realize how much someone means to you, when that person's life is on the line.

* * *

AN: The promised drama! Sorry it took so long to get a short chapter to you guys. I couldn't figure out how I wanted Watanuki to get hurt as a parallel to the whole falling out a window thing, and, in the end, I decided to make it open to interpretation. but I felt it was kinda necessary to have _something_ like the original xxxHolic storyline, because Doumeki and Watanuki's relationship is so deep there, and I didn't think it was as deep in my story, and that made me sad. :( So I fixed it. :D

And now, I ask you guys: Would you rather I continue this part of the storyline to Watanuki waking up, and finding out about the fact Doumeki paid a price to save him, or would you like a sort of serious moment between Doumeki and Kohane/Himawari much like the one in the Shunmuki OVA? I have ideas for both storylines, and either way, the second one will be in this collection, but I'm also doing this for you guys, so I wanna know. Tell me you opinion in a review, kay?

I hope you enjoyed this more serious chapter. I enjoyed writing it. :3


	10. Change

Disclaimer: As much as I may wish, I will never be 4 different people, physically, so I can never be CLAMP. Therefore, xxxHolic isn't mine. ;_;

* * *

The first thing Watanuki registered upon regaining consciousness was the dull throb of pain throughout his body. The next thing he registered, having still not opened his eyes just yet, was the excruciatingly familiar feel of the room he was in. It seemed that, somehow, he had inevitably ended up in Yuuko's shop.

"I know you're awake," the woman's voice cut through his thoughts, sounding rather close. The 22-year-old opened his eyes cautiously, and turned his head to find Yuuko sitting at his bedside, looking rather serious.

"What.... what happened?" the man asked softly, searching his hazy mind for even hazier memories of how, exactly, he ended up being treated for whatever it was this time in Yuuko's shop.

The Dimensional Witch answered him, after a length of silence, and Watanuki couldn't help but think he was pretty damn lucky to be here now. But, despite his knowledge of what had landed him in this 'sick bed' of sorts, he still was unsure of one other fact.

"How...?"

"Doumeki was with you when you collapsed. He carried you here."

"Oh... This is all going to cost me a lot, isn't it?" the man questioned further, chuckling weakly, turning his head towards the ceiling. The woman, who had, by this point, moved to the doorway, turned around, still unsmiling.

"I have already received the price from Doumeki-kun," Yuuko replied.

Watanuki's eyes widened at this revelation, and he turned towards the doorway to look at the woman. Instead, the blue-eyed man was greeted with the sight of the tall, golden-eyed bartender, looking rather disheveled, and making his way into the room.

Immediately, the slimmer man on the bed had the impression that the other man had been outside that door the whole time Watanuki was asleep. But obviously, that couldn't be correct. It just couldn't be true. They had no sort of connection whatsoever, besides Yuuko's claim that they were 'soul mates,' but... Doumeki didn't believe it, did he?

Doumeki continued towards the enfeebled male's bedside, an intensity burning in his golden gaze. Watanuki found himself unable to look at the bartender's face, his eyes in particular, and looked to the ceiling in order to calm his racing heart at least a little bit.

There was an extended silence between the two after Doumeki reached the bedside, and Watanuki heard Yuuko slide the door closed, leaving the males alone. Finally, Doumeki spoke.

"So you finally woke up," the bartender said softly, his voice containing a large amount of exhaustion, and another emotion that Watanuki could've sworn was relief, but knew wasn't true. That would just be ridiculous. Yet...

"Why.... why did you....?" Watanuki started, finally turning towards the other man, who was now kneeling so as to be at Watanuki's eye-level. "Is it... because of what Yuuko-san said?"

"No, it was not because of that woman's words," Doumeki replied harshly. Watanuki felt a small amount of anger color the man's words, which was peculiar. What reason would Doumeki have to be angry at Watanuki? Did the bartender think Watanuki had done something stupid? Why? Watanuki was confused, but didn't say anything as Doumeki continued, this time in a much softer tone.

"If only those words had been my motivation..." Doumeki trailed off, letting the implications of his words hang heavy in the air. Watanuki looked away once again.

"Then... what?" Watanuki asked, voice sounding even smaller than before. He felt something warm and comforting rest on top of his hand.

"You already know what, dumbass," Doumeki answered, getting a soft chuckle in response.

Watanuki felt his eyes start to close, exhaustion taking hold of his body. Not wanting this to happen just yet, Watanuki fought it off valiantly, but still felt himself failing. Doumeki's hand moved away from his own as the bartend made to stand up once again.

"You should sleep now," the man said, clearly intending to leave the smaller man in peace and solitude while he rested.

Somehow, Watanuki found that he didn't like this idea in the least, and he grabbed Doumeki's wrist before he could stand. This movement effectively startled the bartender, and he turned his wide-eyed gaze to the smaller man.

"Don't leave... Stay... please..." Watanuki mumbled, eyes closing as sleep slowly started to overtake him. Doumeki's expression softened, and his lips upturned slightly, as he once again made himself comfortable at Watanuki's bedside. Smiling contently, Watanuki finally allowed the exhaustion to take over, his eyes closing, and breathing evening out shortly after.

Doumeki, at this point, finally removed Watanuki's slackened hand from his wrist, and cradled it in his own hands. Finally, the emotions he'd been trying to repress since this whole fiasco occurred leaked out of his body, showing, for once, through his usually stoic expression.

"I'll stay... if you do, Watanuki," the man murmured softly to himself, gazing down at the delicate, almost feminine, hand he now held.

Within fifteen minutes, he, too, was asleep, the day's events having finally taking their toll on him. His head rested on his crossed arms, that, in turn, rested on the smaller man's bed.

Meanwhile, Yuuko, who was smoking on the porch, looked towards the sky, her expression looking much like that of a proud mother's.

"So they were able to change the future, after all."

* * *

AN: Well, most of the reviews I received wanted to know Watanuki's response to Doumeki paying a price, so I ended up typing it out. Plus, I decided that I wanted to write it, too. Aww, those two are so cute. :3 Also, yes, Doumeki had been waiting outside of Watanuki's room the whole time he was being healed and was unconscious. As for Yuuko's words, what could she mean? Well, I know. But I'm the author. Will you guys ever find out? Maybe. Maybe not. Kukukuku. (Hopefully you will find out, if I can work it in somehow... Lol.)

And for those of you wondering what DOumeki's price was, and what happened to Watanuki, well.. I don't actually know. I never decided. So it's up for interpretation. Whatever you think happened may or may not have happened to Watanuki to make Yuuko have to happen. The only thing I can say is for certain is that it's not related to Himawari having bad luck, because that whole part of the original xxxHolic plot is immaterial in this universe. (AKA, Himawari isn't bad luck. And she wasn't present at the time of the incident.)

Over the next week, I may work on another chapter for this story, or I'll write a couple crack fics for xxxholic that I haven't had the chance to write, since I only have a 2-day school week this week, due to American Thanksgiving. Ah, best holiday ever. Lots of food, and short school weeks. (And, if you live somewhere with actual seasons, cold weather, but it'll probably be 80 degrees Farenheit in Florida. Rargh.) Mmm, we'll see what happens.

Hope you all enjoyed! Feel free to tell me your theories on what happened to Watanuki, and what price Doumeki had to pay to save him. I'm curious to see how you guys interpreted it.


	11. Promises

Disclaimer: Not mine. Never has been. How sad.. :(

* * *

It took nearly a month for Watanuki to get completely better from whatever it was that had struck him down at that time. (Yuuko had refused to answer Doumeki's questions on this, saying he "needn't know just yet.")

For the first week, Doumeki had managed to get off work, under the guise that he didn't "feel well enough" to work. Of course, Watanuki found out about this soon enough, and was mildly annoyed at the bartender for this (though he was also rather flattered, but he tried to hide that from Doumeki as much as he could, which wasn't all that much, but still..).

The slender male had demanded that Doumeki return to work, and stop worrying about him so much. Begrudgingly, Doumeki gave in to the man's wished, once said man had been able to sit upright for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

Despite this, Doumeki returned to Yuuko's place after work for the next couple weeks, staying with the blue-eyed invalid for as long as he possibly could, as if he were afraid that, at any moment, something would happen to the man again. For good reason, too, anyone could say, because seeing your loved one just collapse out of nowhere and then have to pay a price to save their life to the Witch of Dimensions, and not a hospital, is something that could very easily make one worried about said loved one to a point of paranoia.

But that didn't mean Watanuki liked it. finally, the man had told Doumeki to go home, and, at the very least, not sleep at Yuuko's place, because he would be fine. Doumeki, of course, seemed skeptical, but agreed reluctantly when Yuuko actually joined Watanuki's side, and assured him (when the two were alone) that Watanuki would be fine from now on, when it related to something like this.

Doumeki had been finishing his subpar lunch at home when he'd heard the knocking on his door a week or so later. He was a little surprised when he saw Watanuki's two other friends, Kohane and Himawari, standing outside his door. Himawari smiled when she saw him.

"Sorry to bother you, Doumeki-kun, but Yuuko-san just let us know that she's having a party to celebrate Watanuki's recovery, and she said we should invite you, as well," the woman explained, expression cheery as usual.

Doumeki only gave a small hum as a response, sliding on the shoes that sat comfortably by the door. Neither girl seemed to mind his lack of speech; Himawari because she remembered how he'd been in high school, and Kohane because she was a quiet person herself.

Still without saying anything, Doumeki stepped out of the house, locking the door behind him, and looked expectantly at the two females standing in front of him.

"Let's go then!" Himawari said, starting down the steps and down the stone walkway leading away from Doumeki's family temple, Kohane and Doumeki in tow.

Though Doumeki would've preferred to go much faster than the girls were walking as they made their way towards what Doumeki assumed would be Yuuko's shop, he matched their pace out of politeness, and his own upbringing.

As a child, his grandfather had always told him to try to protect those who didn't have the strength he had, so as to never corrupt himself, and so he would always remember that he, too, had once been a weakling. His parents, who had retired from the life of shrine keepers and now lived in the country, had continuously taught Doumeki this as he grew older, so Doumeki really had no option as to what he preferred, right now.

After all, how could Doumeki protect these two girls, who, while probably strong in their own right, were not as strong as he was, and, in the case of Kohane, younger, if he was not at least walking at the same pace they were?

Anyway, aside from all that, Doumeki had a feeling they were purposefully walking at a very, very leisurely pace, and damned if he was too blind to see it probably had something to do with him. It was not like Yuuko to send someone to fetch him, and, even if it had been for him to "protect" these girls, she would've sent _him_ out to fetch _them_, and not the other way around. Really, nothing else made sense as to why he now had these two young women walking on either side of him.

Finally, after the three had been walking in silence for a while, Kohane broke the silence, bringing the group to a stop.

"Shizuka-kun," she said, voice trailing off at the end, "we've been told what happened to Kimihiro-kun... and how you saved him."

Doumeki didn't falter as he shifted his gaze to the girl, waiting for her to go on. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, as he noted the girl's even more serious than usual expression.

".... Promise.. you'll take care of Kimihiro-kun, okay?" the girl finally managed to say, grabbing onto Doumeki's left hand, and giving him an almost pleading look. Doumeki didn't hesitate in placing his free hand on top of the girl's head comfortingly.

"I promise."

Doumeki suddenly felt a light touch on his shoulder, and he turned to see Himawari by his side, looking rather relieved, and.. was that pride he saw in her expression?

After carefully examining the two females' expressions of relief mixed with pride, Doumeki couldn't help but feel he'd just been passed some imaginary torch by the two of them. Though it made sense to the golden-eyed bartender, he couldn't help but find the sensation extremely bizarre. I mean, it was two average females who weren't exactly all that athletic (from what Doumeki could tell), giving one of the most stoic of male bartenders who regularly worked out to stay healthy "permission" to protect their other fully-grown male friend, though Doumeki would concede that Kimihiro wasn't the strongest physically, either.

Had Doumeki been anyone else, he might've laughed at the absurdity of it all, but Doumeki _wasn't_ anyone else, so he didn't even consider laughing at the situation at all. Instead, he wordlessly removed his hand from Kohane's head, turned, and continued in the direction they'd been going before, the girls walking on either side of him just like before, but this time a little bit closer.

Doumeki kept his eyes ever-forward as they walked, thoughts already on the bespectacled man they were on their way to see. Not only had he promised the two females to take care of the man, he had promised himself to do exactly the same thing. And Doumeki Shizuka _always_ took his promises, the few that he made, _very_ seriously.

* * *

AN: This one was long, holy crap. :o! But I kinda like how it turned out, lol. Especially the part where Kohane's like: "protect Kimihiro-kun, plzkthx." I always thought that scene in the manga/OAD was just too cute, so I couldn't resist putting it in here. And when I say cute, I mean in a totally platonic, older brother/younger sister way. I'm purely a DouWata fangirl. Lol.

I couldn't help but add the whole bizarre part in here, because it just.. is. I mean, even in canon it's a bit bizarre, and a little funny, when you think about it. Kohane was like.. what, 8 years old in canon? And it's just really funny.

**[EDIT]:** Totally forgot to add this before, but about Kohane referring to Domeki as Shizuka-kun. She doesn't mean it in a degrading manner, but more like she calls him that is canon, and it felt weird to write it any other way. So, she has, in fact, asked Doumeki if it's alright to call him "Shizuka-kun," and Doumeki was like: "Okay." Ehehe. Sorry if you were confused. ^^;

Also, for the whole strength thing, listen to me feminists before you freak out. I'm not saying that girls should be weaker than guys at all, or that Himawari and Kohane aren't strong emotionally, BUT, think of it this way. Doumeki, we know, is an athlete, in canon, and in this story. Neither Himawari nor Kohane, to our knowledge, work out more than walking. I believe that they'd have a decent enough amount of strength to protect themselves as much as possible when necessary, but.. I mean.. compared to Doumeki is how I'm writing this. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm all for women's individuality and all, being a girl myself, but that doesn't mean I think all girls are particularly strong, physically. I'm not, myself, but that doesn't mean I do that to be "pretty." I'm just not someone who likes working out, and I think Himawari and Kohane are the same way, ish. So.. yeah. just don't give me any inflammatory reviews about that, okay? I promise, I'm not trying to degrade women at all, lol.

Anywho, other than that. Don't forget to review any theories as to what caused Watanuki to need to be saved! I've already gotten a couple, and one may end up being what I decide as the reason. So, don't be afraid to say something, if you have something to say. I'm trying to reply to my reviewers more often, as well, because I get great ideas that way. Plus, if you happen to inspire me to write something, like a one-shot or a chapter, I'll credit you in that chapter! That's right, your screenname, at the top of the chapter, looking all fancy. Totally. So speak up! Reviews fuel my creative mind, and more creativity means more chapters/stories for you~

Also, holy crap. 40 reviews already for this. You know, there was a time when even getting 1 review was a huuuge accomplishment for me. And now, the number's been upped to 5 reviews per story. But I digress. It's all because of you guys that I've even gotten this far. :3 You guys are the best, and thank you all so much for reading this story, and for all of you who've faved it, and added it to your alerts, or added me to your alerts list. I appreciate all you guys so much. ;_;


	12. Interlude 2: Part 1

Disclaimer: None of the songs nor series in this chapter belong to me. ;_;

* * *

Yuuko, of course, had been the one to suggest this to the two men. Once again, Doumeki got the feeling that she knew way, _way_ much more than she tried to let on, particularly about the "future."

At least, it was either that, or she was able to manipulate a situation even more skillfully than Doumeki knew. The bartender was willing to bet it was a mixture of both, really.

I mean, the woman had somehow managed to convince Watanuki, of all people, to go to a _night club_. And with Doumeki, no less! Not that Doumeki really cared either way, at first. Working at a bar tended to make the prospect of going to a different bar/night club a lot less of a novelty, and Doumeki never cared too much for that sort of scene, anyway. However, even a certain Shizuka Doumeki was going to admit that when presented with Kimihiro Watanuki wearing _that_ ensemble.

"_I got a feelin', woo-hoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night._"

And the Black Eyed Peas weren't helping the situation any with their strangely appropriate song. Curse those catchy lyrics and dance-a-licious beat that was so perfect for a club-like setting.

But, really, no one could really blame Doumeki for his current state of mind when taking a look at the whole situation. Yuuko had forced the slimmer man into a pair of tight (but not skintight, because that made guys have chicken legs), dark-wash jeans, which, by the way, made Watanuki's ass look positively _delicious_, and a white, long-sleeved button-down shirt over a brilliant blue undershirt that matched his eyes exactly. The sleeves of the button-down were rolled up just past the man's elbows, and the shirt remained entirely un-buttoned. To complete the carefully casual appearance, Watanuki's hair was slightly more mussed than usual, which negated his usual appearance of trying to keep his hair neat, and his feet were encased in a pair of plain, black, low-top converse.

All in all, the man looked far more casual than Doumeki could really ever recall, probably because Yuuko had undoubtedly styled the whole outfit, and Doumeki basically thought it was friggin' _hot_. And, really, a night _couldn't_ be terrible if he got to feast his eyes on Watanuki looking as sexy as he did, even if quite a few others in the room were trying to do the same, too. Doumeki knew Watanuki was _his_, anyway. It was just too bad for those other guys (because really, mostly the male clientele of this club were looking at the blue-eyed man like _that_), because they only wanted what _they couldn't have_.

Though Doumeki, too, was attracting a good number of stares, himself; this time from the females in the room. And no one could really blame them, either, what with Doumeki's attire that matched Watanuki's in pure sexiness. Doumeki wore a dark gray, long-sleeve button-down similar to Watanuki's, except the sleeves were only rolled halfway up the bartender's forearms, and only a few of the buttons at the top were un-buttoned just enough to reveal a small glimpse of a masculine collarbone, and a chest chiseled by the gods themselves (in the opinion of the girls and Watanuki, at least). A pair of straight-leg jeans so dark, they were nearly black, rested above the man's hips, seemingly held in place by a loose, studded belt, were complemented by a pair of low-top Converse that were a slightly lighter shade of gray than the button-down. Doumeki's hair remained as it usually was, aside from a few more artfully arranged strands hanging in his face than usual (Yuuko had done this when she'd told him to come pick up Watanuki from her shop for this outing).

Currently, the two men were standing by the club's bar, partaking in a couple drinks, and not saying much over the rumbling beats of the various dance-tastic songs the DJ kept playing. In the meantime, Doumeki made sure to carefully monitor the number of alcoholic drinks his blue-eyed companion was consuming. So far, the man had only had one, and was working on his second, but the volatile male had already proved himself to have a low alcohol tolerance in the past, and Doumeki _really_ didn't want Watanuki to pass out on him again.

Suddenly, as Watanuki was finishing his drink, and a new song was starting, Doumeki had a brilliant idea in order to keep Watanuki from getting absolutely hammered.

"Oi! Wanna dance?" Doumeki asked loudly over the beginning vocals of the song. Watanuki looked surprised.

"With you?" the man asked, as if the idea were absurd. Which, it kind of was for Doumeki to want to dance at a club, but Doumeki was feeling like breaking character a bit tonight. He suspected Yuuko had something to do with it.

"Who else, dumbass?" Doumeki replied. Watanuki looked like he might protest, but stopped when the chorus of the current song started, catching the attention of both males.

"_Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm. Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm._"

Doumeki once again had a strong suspicion that Yuuko was behind all this, because there really was no other way that all these songs would play in order to fit the situation just perfectly like they were currently. But, for now, Doumeki decided to just chalk it up to "hitsuzen" like a certain Witch of Dimensions liked to say. He made sure, though, to make a mental note to talk to Yuuko about it later.

Watanuki seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Doumeki, based on the vaguely annoyed expression he wore now. (Doumeki had learned, by now, that Watanuki had different annoyance expressions for Yuuko and himself. It was kind of funny. But I digress.) Heaving a sigh, Watanuki placed his now empty glass onto the bar counter, and turned towards Doumeki.

"Fine, I'll dance with you, you oaf," Watanuki conceded, grinning a little. Doumeki wondered if Watanuki was a little drunker than he thought, but ignored the idea as he and the other man made their way to the dance floor. Now wasn't the time to dwell on such things.

Once the two reached the dance floor, Doumeki noticed a very obvious change in Watanuki, and found, much to his surprise, that he, too, was exhibiting a clear change. For any of the others in the club, of course, the two looked just like any other average attractive pair dancing together, but to the two men in question, it was a weird, yet not unpleasant, change in how their bodies seemed to take over, flowing smoothly with the music.

It wasn't long, though, until the two got over their initial shock, and just let this phenomenon rule over their though process for now. As a new song started playing, the men let their bodies move as they wished, finding that, somehow, their bodies seemed to work together naturally in their dancing.

"_Who knew, that you'd be up here lookin' like you do. You're making staying over here impossible. baby I must say your aura is incredible. If you don't have to go, don't. Do you know what you´ve started?  
I just came here to party, but now we're rockin' on the dance floor acting naughty. Your hands around my waist, just let the music play._"

As Doumeki listened to the last line of lyrics, he found that his hands had, unconsciously, moved to Watanuki's slender waist, and, not only had Watanuki not pushed him away, but the other man seemed to... enjoy it? Though Doumeki wasn't sure, since the other man was facing away from him at the current moment.

"_We're hand in hand, just a twist and now we're face to face._"

At this point, Doumeki spun his shorter companion around to face him rather dramatically, not missing the sudden closeness of their bodies, and their faces.

"_I wanna take you away - let's escape into the music, DJ let it play. I just can't refuse it. Like the way you do this. Keep on rockin' to it. Please don't stop the, please don't stop the music._"

God damn, it would seem this song was freakishly appropriate, too.

For a while, the two continued to dance to the blaring music, which included the songs "Womanizer," "Boom Boom Pow," "When I Grow Up" (the cover version by Mayday Parade, and not the original by the Pussycat Dolls), "The City Is At War," "Shut Up And Drive," "Funhouse," and "Send My Love To The Dance Floor."

Finally, the pair, breathing heavily, decided to take a break for drinks. This time, both ordered non-alcoholic drinks, Watanuki opting for water, and Doumeki opting for a diet soda. After a few moments of silent sipping, when the men's breathing had returned to normal, Watanuki spoke up.

"I didn't know you could dance like that," he mentioned almost too casually, glancing at the golden-eyed male over his drink. Doumeki shrugged. Honestly, he hadn't known, either, but he wasn't going to say _that_.

"I didn't know _you_ could," the taller man countered, observing his friend intensely (as usual). Watanuki looked up fully this time, and laughed a little, as if to say what Doumeki had been thinking all along; '_Neither did I._'

Both men seemed to realize at the same instant how close their face had suddenly become, much like on the dance floor, and once again, their bodies started taking over as they slowly decreased the already small space in between them.

As they drew even closer, Doumeki saw Watanuki's eyes shut halfway, and he almost lost himself in the smaller man's intoxicating scent. Their lips were centimeters when Doumeki snapped out of his daze, and pulled away, valiantly trying to ignore the slightly hurt look Watanuki sent him.

"This is wrong."

* * *

AN: Ahahahaha, look at that Cliffie I left you at! I'm such a terrible person, lol. But worry not. Another update should be coming in a couple hours, if you see this just after it's posted. If you're seeing this tomorrow morning, you're getting two chapters. Whee!

Anywho. I was just going to do Doumeki and Watanuki going to a club as a short little interlude to the story in order to get some funny back in here, but then.. it turned into this little inner-plot thing. Gah. It was the music, I swear. I was listening to a lot of it, and I kept thinking of ausing situations to get Watanuki and Doumeki into that fit the music, and.. yeah. So I decided: "Hey! Why not make it into a 2-chapter interlude to 'Bar' instead of just a one-chapter one?" And this interlude will also kind of fit into the storyline a bit, too, but you'll find out more about that in the next chapter. Because I split this into 2 chapters so I could a) build suspense, and b)make sure it wasn't too long. This half alone is 1,636 words, without my author's note, lol. But you know you love it, deep, deep down. But I promise, the second half will be up tonight.

The songs used in this chapter, in order, are "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga, and "Don't Stop The Music" by Rihanna. And the list of songs are by Brittney Spears, the Black Eyed Peas, Cobra Starship, Rihanna, and Pink. I'm sure you've heard of most of them, if you listen to any generic top hits radio station. And if you haven't, well, I suggest looking them up, because I like them all. Except "Womanizer" by Brittney Spears. That one's kind of annoying to me. ^^;

As a side note, before I go on to the next chapter. I actually have a list typed up of a bunch of songs for this particular chapter. Well, for a club or party setting. But yeah. I still have 6 more songs I'll be featuring in the next chapter, so look forward to that, lol. Now, onwards I go!

Don't forget to leave a review to keep me from procrastinating~! And thanks to all of you who've reviewed/favorited/alerted this already. You guys are great!


	13. Interlude 2: Part 2

Disclaimer: None of the songs featured in this chapter are mine, and neither is xxxHolic. Though a girl can dream... A lot..

* * *

"This is wrong."

"_'__Cause you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no._"

Doumeki tried to ignore the crestfallen expression Watanuki wore when he'd pulled away. Yes, Doumeki wanted to 'tap that,' so to speak, and yeah, he wasn't so blind as to not see that Watanuki was currently willing, but, as usual, he had a rather sound logic behind his actions.

So far, despite constant prods from Watanuki's makeshift 'family,' said man had not actually shown that he cared deeply about, or for, Doumeki unless he was drunk, or really sick. (Doumeki hadn't forgotten that last incident just after he'd paid a price to save Watanuki's life, when Watanuki asked him to stay.) In other words, Watanuki was never _this_ willing in public unless there was something wrong with him.

"You're drunk, aren't you?" Doumeki questioned. To him, it was the most sensible conclusion. I mean, he would know if Watanuki was sick, or something.

Besides, tonight, the bartender had _watched_ his slimmer friend drink 2 shots of alcohol. And the blue-eyed man wasn't normally very alcohol tolerant as it was. Could anyone really blame Doumeki for his current assumption that Watanuki was currently drunk?

In response to the taller man's question, Watanuki merely rolled his eyes, and, in a bold move that was rather unlike him, closed the space between the two. Immediately, as if trying to prevent his brain from stopping this, Doumeki's arms moved to pull the smaller man closer. For a brief moment, Doumeki's logical, honorable side tried to regain some control, but the side of the bartender that was fully endorsing this move won out in the end.

"_This was never the way I planned. Not my intention._"

As their first kiss with one another, it was an odd, and mildly out of character, incident, yet it was still so _them_ that it was almost frightening. If anyone had asked either of the two how they imagined their first kiss as a couple (sort of) would be, neither man would've answered anything even in the same realm as this. However, neither man was complaining about it now. It just... fit, in some weird way.

The two pulled away after a minute or so, in order to breathe. The bartender lamented the break for a moment, realizing that this must've been how Watanuki had felt when _he'd_ pulled away. Damn, he felt a little sorry about that now. And, at that point, they hadn't even enjoyed an actual kiss yet.

"_I kissed a girl, and I liked it._"

Briefly, Doumeki was once again struck by how obnoxiously relevant all these songs were. He was now positive that Yuuko was behind all this, but couldn't bring himself to care all that much. He did have other things on his mind right now, after all. Like that really cute blush Watanuki had on his face. Even a guy like Doumeki couldn't bring himself to think of all that much else when Watanuki was looking at him like _that_.

"Does that answer your question?" Watanuki asked after a few moments. "Or should I prove it to you again?"

"_I make them good girls go bad._"

It seemed that Watanuki, too, had noticed the relevance of many of the previous songs, as the man chuckled at the song switch. Doumeki himself couldn't resist an amused little smirk.

"I really don't know whether to be pissed at Yuuko for this, or glad," the bespectacled man said thoughtfully after he finished laughing. Doumeki, following the overall daring mood of the night, pulled the smaller man close, a devious expression on his face.

"I would say glad," he said, before dipping his head down to capture his companion's lips in yet another kiss.

The two pulled away for breath just as the song switched yet again.

"_1, 2, 3. Not only you and me. Got one eighty degrees, and I'm caught in between._"

"Okay, if that's Yuuko's fault, I am so going to kill her for that."

* * *

AN: I am SO sorry! I know I said this would be out a couple hours after the first part, and it's not, but please don't kill me! See.. I was working on this chapter at like.. 2:00 AM after I posted the first part, and I was like.. a page and a half into it, and then I realized... it was waaaaaaay too out of character, even for a time when a person wants to be a bit not like themselves. It was just.. waaaaay bad. And, by that point, I was too braindead to come up with something better, in time to still get enough sleep for the next day, when I went to Disney to perform in the CandleLight processional at EPCOT with my school. And then after that, I'd hoped to write up the fixed part, but.. I was really tired then, too. And then I was occupied until 4:30 this afternoon, so then I basically started over the second part of this interlude of sorts. And now it's a lot better, trust me.

Anywho. I intended to include the songs "Single Ladies" by Beyonce and "Hot MEss" by Cobra Starship in the original version of this chapter, but they didn't end up working out. They were the only 2 on my original "Club Playlist" that didn't make this story. Which is a shame, because I love "Hot Mess," and "Single Ladies," well... it's whatever. I'm not a huge fan of the song, but it would've been kinda funny. Lol. Also, the songs in this chapter are "Hot n' Cold" by Katy Perry, "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry (I also suggest listening to the cover version by Attack! Attack!), "Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship, and "3" by Brittney Spears. I couldn't resist the last one. The lulz were too many to pass up.

And, on a non music related note: OMFG, FINALLY. THEY KISSED! So, this is how this interlude is part of the main storyline - it's these two's first kiss. This will, therefore, lead to certain other things in the next chapter, or maybe 2 chapters, but the fact that they went to a club is just for my own entertainment, I hope yours, as well.

And now it's time for food. Lol. Hope you all enjoyed! Sorry it took so long! Review, so you can either destroy me with various painful instruments, or molest me because those two finally kissed. Whatever suits your fancy.

Also, yes. Yuuko was behind the music selection the whole time. I mean.. come on. It's such a Yuuko thing to do, lol. (And the last song was her choice, too. xD)


	14. Everything

Disclaimer: xxxHolic is not, and never has been, mine. It's all CLAMP's.

WARNING: This chapter, and the following chapter, contain major spoilers for the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHolic storylines. If you haven't gotten to at least chapter 220 in Tsubasa, and chapter 175 in xxxHolic, I suggest you do that. Unless you don't care about spoilers, in which case, read on. :)

* * *

Doumeki had known it was coming eventually. Especially after that night at the club. After all, when Doumeki had kindly 'escorted' Watanuki to work the next day, Yuuko was grinning rather broadly, even for her. And Doumeki could also see the hint of seriousness in her gaze lately.

She had something she had to tell him. It was only a matter of time. And really, today, she'd created the perfect opportunity. After all, by requesting some ridiculously hard and time-consuming dish from Watanuki, and telling him to clean the treasure room in the meantime, she'd guaranteed herself and Doumeki a good deal of time without Watanuki being present.

Clearly, Yuuko did not want Watanuki to hear what she was about to say. Or rather, she couldn't let him hear. It was a very hard distinction, where the Witch of Dimensions was concerned.

However, even after Watanuki had left the room in a huff, complaining his way into the kitchen with Maru, Moro, and Mokona in tow, Yuuko stayed silent for a long while. Doumeki waited patiently for her to speak first. When she was ready, she'd tell him. Finally, the woman pulled herself out of her revere, and broke the silence.

"So, Doumeki-kun, I trust that you've finally gotten Watanuki-kun to confess his undying love for you, hm?" she started, smiling rather mischievously. Doumeki, as quiet as ever, merely quirked an eyebrow in question. "Undying love" wasn't exactly how he would've put it, after all.

"Well, at the very least I know you've been keeping him busy," the woman chuckled, "though his work has suffered. I _do_ know what you two are doing when you go off into my spare rooms every other day."

Doumeki said nothing in response. There was no use in denying the truth, after all. Besides, he was well aware that Yuuko knew that he and Watanuki snuck off sometimes to make out in some of the empty rooms in her weird shop. (Though it was more Doumeki dragging Watanuki off to make out and satisfy his long suppressed sex drive. The bartender had _years_ of hormones to work with, really.) She always smirked knowingly at them when they reappeared, after all, even though they _usually_ looked the same as they did before.

Yuuko chuckled again, a bit softer this time.

"In any case, I'm sure you know that I didn't bring you here just to tease you," she said.

"Then why?" Doumeki asked, finally breaking his own silence. Yuuko's expression turned distant, and she closed her eyes almost sadly.

"You need to know some things about Watanuki for that day which is to come, and for what has already happened," she finally said, opening her eyes again. Doumeki was, once again, silent. Sighing, Yuuko began.

"Fifteen years ago, I granted the wish of a small boy. This boy, much like his father, was determined to grant his own wishes whenever he could. However, he was told to come to me, because no one else in this world possesses the power to cross dimensions. The boy, though young in years, was clearly ready for the task, and I had received equal payment, so I sent him to the other dimension, for a single week."

Yuuko's expression turned into one of definite sadness, and she paused for a few moments before continuing.

"After the week was over, the boy returned, injured, and I healed him at the shop. His father paid this price. When the boy was healed, he wished to go back to the world in which he'd been for that single week, though his price was high. However, despite having to leave his life in this world behind, the boy still wished to go back to that world, where his 'soul mate' resided."

Yuuko paused once again, giving Doumeki the idea that this story was more closely tied to Yuuko's own back story than she would want others to know. Doumeki briefly wondered, once again, just what Yuuko had experienced to make her the way she was, but he ignored the thought presently. Now was not the time for that.

"That boy felt as though he'd failed in protecting the person most precious to him at that time, and, since then, has suffered many hardships. Yet, he has never given up on that one wish, even through the pain that he'd caused himself, that he'd inadvertently caused others."

Doumeki waited silently for another few moments, and, when Yuuko didn't continue, spoke up.

"And what does he have to do with Watanuki?" the bartender asked. Yuuko stared him straight in the eyes as she replied.

"Everything."

* * *

AN: Sorry this is kinda late, guys. Lol. I meant to have it up this weekend, but I was busy all weekend I did manage to type this up last night, but I didn't have time to upload it, so now here it is. :D The main plot of this story has only 2 more chapters after this, and at least one bonus chapter. Maybe two. I'm still undecided. But I will have some ridiculous Christmas fics up starting in hopefully about a week. There are bound to be at least some laughs involved with those, and hopefully more Mokona. Because I really don't write him (her?) in enough. D: But I digress.

On the plus side, this week is my exam week, so, with any luck, I'll be able to have the next chapter up before Friday, but don't expect it. I have some rather hard classes I need to study for, and on Friday, my chorus will be performing in Disney's CandleLight once again. (Whoopi Goldberg is narrating, lolol.) So.. yeah. If I don't get the next chapter up by Thursday night, expect it on Saturday or later. I will be too dead tired on Friday to finish it, most likely...

Anywho. I know that this part right here is a _lot_ like the story of R!Syaoran in Tsubasa, and, of course, canon!Watanuki. And there's a reason for that. The part that deviates from the canon plot will be explained next chapter. I promise, it'll all be clear then. Or at least I'll try to make it clear, lol.

I hope you enjoyed it, though it wasn't the most exciting chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you thought in a review~ Until next time, my precious ones. (Lol, don't ask.) Thanks to all my anonymous readers out there, and all of you guys who've faved/alerted/reviewed this story so far. You guys are the greatest. :)


	15. Vanish

Disclaimer: xxxHolic belongs to CLAMP. Not me. ;_;

Warning: Spoilers for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles up to chapter 205, and for xxxHolic up to chapter 170. If you don't want to be spoiled, and havn't read up to those points yet, I suggest you go do so. The rest of you, proceed. :)

* * *

"And what does he have to do with Watanuki?"

"Everything."

Doumeki was silent for a brief moment after the woman's admission, his mind taking longer than usual to process what he was hearing.

"How?" the bartender finally demanded.

"That child's feelings for his destined person were so strong that, for the briefest of seconds, he wished for something that was completely taboo. That wish was so strong that he was given a choice to still make that wish, but give up his own freedom for a very long time as compensation, in order to grant that wish."

"What was the wish?" Doumeki asked, when it looked like Yuuko might not continue. Once again not looking at him, she responded.

"To turn back time, in order to go back and protect what he'd sworn to protect."

The bartender and the woman lapsed into silence for a few minutes while Doumeki absorbed this information. As he thought about it all, something troubling occurred to him. His eyebrows knitted together in concentration as he pondered this. If Yuuko-san's story was right, then.... Doumeki was going to ask, but Yuuko spoke before he opened his mouth.

"That wish caused a distortion in time, not only because it is a taboo, but because that child had given up his own time for the wish to be granted. In essence, that child created a void in his world, our world, where he was supposed to be, but couldn't be. The place where his being was supposed to be was empty, yet time in which he'd inhabited that spot started once again."

"So, that means...."

"Watanuki was created by that person's wish - to fill the void that was left behind."

The two lapsed into another silence, this one much briefer than the last.

"They are the same person, then?" Doumeki questioned. Yuuko smiled softly at him.

"Yes, they are, in essence the same existence. But, they are not the same being. Watanuki looks nothing like his 'other self' physically. Though they _do_ share a large portion of their souls."

Yuuko looked oddly wistful as she said this, but Doumeki chose not to ask about it. It was her own business whether she wanted to tell him or not. And, quite frankly, he was more interested in Watanuki, no offense to Yuuko. (Though he didn't think she really cared all that much, anyway. Or, at the very least, she understood why he felt the way he did. It wouldn't surprise him, really.)

"Does Watanuki know?"

"No. That child handed over his memories in payment for a wish that was the same as his 'other self' had. He does not remember most of his past, nor does he remember even paying that price to me. However, the body can also remember, though the heart does not."

Doumeki nodded quietly at Yuuko's words. His grandfather had told him that once, he remembered. Perhaps Haruka-san (as others called him) had known about this from the start? Hm. Probably.

"The memories of the body are why Watanuki collapsed, at that time," Yuuko recommenced.

"At the time, that other child was risking his own life in granting his wish. Unconsciously, Watanuki tried to erase himself from the world, because, if he weren't here anymore, then the other child could be. The only method Watanuki's conscious could use to erase itself was his own body, at that time. Watanuki's own body was going to try to shut itself down because Watanuki's soul wished it, without his knowing. Luckily, _you_ were there to stop it. Though Watanuki's body was very advanced in its attempt to destroy itself by the time he got here."

Doumeki's thoughts flashed to the wish he'd made at that time. Was he subsequently wishing for this 'other self' of Watanuki to be killed so that Watanuki could stay? His price, though hefty, had been quite a lot less than it sounded like it should be, now.

"Watanuki's other self will not vanish," Yuuko spoke, seemingly reading Doumeki's mind once again, "and neither does he want Watanuki to vanish. He paid his own price in advance so that Watanuki wouldn't disappear. Since the beginning, Watanuki's existence was very unstable, thanks to that distortion in time."

Yuuko finally kept her strong burgundy gaze on the bartender in front of her, who was still sorting through the questions that whirled trough his mind. Finally, Doumeki broke their silence once again, having decided what was most pressing to him at the moment.

"And now, Watanuki is...."

"Watanuki's future, along with many others, has changed. It is certain now. He will not vanish. As long as you are around, Watanuki will not vanish."

* * *

AN: Lots of dialogue.... D: And it sounds a lot like the canon explaination for Watanuki's existence. But.. I couldn't find much I could change without going really deep into the Tsubasa storyline, and that's not really the point of this fic. But I am sure that there aren't any feathers involved in this side of the story. And the ages in Tsubasa are upped a bit, lol. And I decided that Watanuki's existence WAS certain after Doumeki paid the price to save him because a) Watanuki decided that yes, he was in love with Doumeki, and b) I really hate the part where Watanuki is falling asleep every 5 seconds because his existence was more unstable. Plus, TSyaoran is close to granting his wish to save Sakura. It may or may not be granted already. And for those of you going: "Wait, what about the whole Yuuko thing, and the shop, and the epilogue of Tsubasa?" Well. That has no meaning here, lol. Which is also why I'm not going to be definite as to the status of TSyaoran's wish. I don't need any gaping plotholes, lol. (And if there are already some plotholes, please let me know immediately. But politely. Lol.)

You guys should feel lucky. I have 2 AP Midterms tomorrow, but I wrote this instead, lol. And, you know, I actually felt like writing during the week. (Gasp!) Anywho. If you guys are extremely lucky, you'll get an update tomorrow. Don't count on it. But maybe. If not, hopefully I'll be back this weekend. Or maybe even next Monday. Friday marks the start of my Winter Break, after all. (Yay!)

Thanks to ALL of my readers/watchers/reviewers! You guys are great! And don't forget to review! You just might give me ~ideas~. We're nearing the end guys! We can do this!


	16. Moment

Disclaimer: xxxHolic is not my creation. I wish it was. But it's not. ;_;

* * *

Everything, it seemed, that he had experienced with Watanuki, or learned about Watanuki, had been leading up to this moment. Even many things he'd learned from his grandfather, who had taken such a large role in his upbringing as to be seen as a third parent figure by the child, applied to this moment. This event, apparently, was 'that moment' to which Yuuko-san always referred to.

Of course, all of these things occurred to him when he looked back on the day. After all, one very rarely wastes time on contemplation when the sky suddenly bubbles out and drops what seems to be two sets of blood-stained, 18-year-old, twins in front of the Dimensional Witch's shop. And a certain Shizuka Doumeki, even, didn't waste time on contemplation in the aforementioned situation when one Kimihiro Watanuki was present.

When the four strangers appeared, Doumeki heard a sharp intake of breath come from Watanuki, and a quiet muttering of "Two Sakura-chans and Syaoran-kuns?"

He glanced over at his companion, and noticed that the bespectacled man looked rather like he was about to run to the group that Yuuko now stood in front of calmly, and do... _something_. Acting on instinct, the bartender grabbed his friend's wrist before he could do something rash. Something told him that interrupting was a bad idea, though he had no idea why. Whatever. As long as it kept Watanuki safe, really.

The smaller man didn't seem to entirely recognize the hand on his wrist, but seemed to give up all his intentions of interrupting. His expression of shock morphed into something looking both confused and... somewhat _pained_? Doumeki made sure to keep his focus on both the newcomers and his companion. He had a feeling, even at the time, that this was an extremely important event, and he didn't want to miss anything that could keep Watanuki from being hurt.

"So you've done it, then," Yuuko spoke to the foreigners. One of the teens, a boy with brown hair and determined eyes, nodded in response.

"Yes. But... why have we been transported here?"

"To choose what comes next."

The teens, a set of two almost identical females and two identical males (who, quite frankly, looked more like clones than identical twins), seemed rather shocked at this statement, but, after a moment, became rather relieved and almost happy. One of the females moved in close to one of the males, and looked at him for a moment, before speaking to the Witch of Dimensions.

"If it is at all possible, Syaoran and I would like.. to continue in our old lives here."

"That is not possible. Too many things in this world would be affected by the supposedly dead returning to life," Yuuko replied firmly. For the briefest of instants, so brief that he thought he might've imagined it, Doumeki saw Yuuko's gaze shift to Watanuki. Moments after, the group of newcomers turned a little to look at Watanuki, and Doumeki unconsciously tightened his grip on Watanuki's arm slightly.

Weirdly enough, the teens seemed to notice this, and gave a set of mixed reactions. The first set, who'd wanted to stay in this world, looked rather proud in a parental way, the boy who'd first spoken looked mildly relieved and glad, and the left over girl simply had a knowing expression on her face. All of which, in Doumeki's opinion, were kind of creepy. And were starting to weird him out. Except for maybe the knowing one, because Yuuko gave him that look all the time, as did many random strangers. But the others made no sense, currently. (Especially the parental ones. But I digress.)

Yuuko's voice brought their attention back to her, and (thankfully) off of Watanuki and Doumeki for the moment.

"You may still live in this world. But, you will have to take on new lives completely."

The couple nodded in unison, showing that they understood, and accepted the price of their wish. With that, Yuuko turned to the second pair.

"And what do you choose?"

"I will return to Clow. Clow is Sakura's home, and it is now also my own," the other brunette boy proclaimed with finality. Yuuko smiled a little at this, seemingly unsurprised. The other female, who had yet to say anything, chose this moment to break her unofficial vow of silence.

"What about Fai-san and Kurogane-san?" she asked, apparently worried for these companions of hers.

"Those two can choose their own future without my intervention. What happens to them now is entirely their decision."

This seemed to relieve the timid girl's worries, mostly, and Yuuko smiled at her slightly before addressing the group as a whole.

"Before I can grant your wishes, there is one more thing that needs to be cleared. If you would please, Doumeki-kun, our part-timer is needed over here," she called to the bartender, who was still gripping the smaller man's arm.

Doumeki didn't move at first, still cautious of the newcomers. He communicated this through a slight narrowing of the eyes in Yuuko's direction, to which the woman smiled slightly, before replying.

"It will be alright," she assured the golden-eyed male, "there is something Watanuki-kun needs to hear."

* * *

AN: Ugh, this chapter really refused to be written for a while. First I had the issue that I didn't know where I wanted to go with the plot, and then I had this idea, but then when I sat down to write the chapter, it didn't want to cooperate with me. but finally, tonight, I decided I'd tackle it, because I really wanted it done with. Stupid chapter's been bothering me for a few days. And now it wants me to do a small continuation. Sigh. Stinkin' story, evolving into a plot and then being a buttface about it.

Mmm, that being said, I really don't like this chapter. But, as I mentioned, I wanted it done with. Ergh. Expect at least one more chapter of the main plot (which will be the original ending chapter, sort of), and at least one more crack chapter. Possibly two. It depends. Maybe I'll even make one more chapter of main plot, so I can end with an even number of chapters. (lol, I know, nerdy.) I really don't know at this point.

In the meantime, I hope this at least gave a sort of finality to the whole Tsubasa parallel thing I mentioned in the.. last chapter, was it? I'm not sure. Let me know what you thought about it, 'kay? I love reviews. And private messages. Who knows, you could give me an idea for a fic. Probably a crack fic. But still, you'd be featured as the inspiration, lol. I try to reply as often as I can, when I have more to say than 'Thanks. :)' Lol.

Andn now I'm going to go.. do.. something. Idk. Lol. I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season~ Until next chapter, my dearies!


	17. Granted

Disclaimer: Not mine.

* * *

"I never expected things to turn out like they have."

The words came, rather suddenly, from one Kimihiro Watanuki one evening, as he was wrapped quite comfortably in the arms of his lover, Shizuka Doumeki.

That afternoon, Doumeki had shown up at Watanuki's apartment, demanding that the smaller man feed him, as usual. After the meal, the bartender had pulled his smaller companion close, and refused to let him go, insistent on an innocent, after-dinner cuddle session. (And who was Watanuki to deny him, really?)

It was during that cuddle session that Watanuki had spoken those words, and Doumeki, naturally, felt the need to inquire farther as to what they meant. It wasn't like Watanuki to be so vague, after all.

"Oh?"

Watanuki chuckled lightly, seeming to find something amusing in his taller companion's tone.

"Don't worry, I'm just talking about the wish I'm working to pay off Yuuko for. Well, really, I'm talking about how it would be granted."

Doumeki didn't say anything to this, but Watanuki continued anyway, either understanding the bartender's silence, or just needed to say what was on his mind. Which reason, Doumeki wasn't sure of.

"I had always thought that, once I'd done enough work to pay Yuuko-san off, she'd grant my wish then, and it would be instantaneous," the blue-eyed man mused, eyes distant.

"But... I was wrong. Really, she'd been granting my wish all along. Gradually."

The two lapsed into another comfortable silence, until Doumeki's curiosity finally got the best of him, and he posed his question to the thinner man.

"What was your wish?"

Watanuki turned his face upwards to look into his partner's gaze for a moment, before smiling, and angling his head so that Doumeki couldn't see his expression as he spoke.

"I didn't want to be alone anymore."

* * *

AN: And this, folks, marks the end of the main plot. BUT WAIT. There will still be at least 2 more crack extras to come before I label this as complete. Maybe even 3 crack extras. With lots and lots of Mokona! :D So look forward to that, teehee. And, if you have any questions on the main plot, feel free to ask I'll try to answer as best I can.

As for the chapter. Awwww~ I couldn't resist the fluff, teehee. And the idea of Doumeki pulling Watanuki over onto his lap for an after-dinner cuddle is so cute to me. :3 I really wish they would do that in canon, lolol. But, alas, CLAMP will probably leave it as an implication. ;( Ah well. At least I have this. x)

THANK YOU GUYS for sticking through this with me. This is the very first time ever, even when writing something not posted here, that I've finished writing the main story (with the plot) in a multi-chaptered story that was originalyl meant to be one. And it's all thanks to you guys, which means all of you who read, reviewed, and faved/alerted this thing. Thank you guys so much! I couldn't have done it without you. :) And don't forget the two more crack chapters coming! (And maybe a third!) Mokona will hopefully be in those, lol. At least in the certain 2 more, lol.

Until next time~!


	18. Bonus 1: Gift

Disclaimer: xxxHolic is not mine. The inspiration for Watanuki's dress is not mine, either. But I would buy it and wear it, if I had a good reason to.

* * *

"Come on, Watanuki-kun, don't be so melodramatic. It's just one outfit."

"I refuse to wear this thing."

"Why? It's not like it's hard to put on. Even _you_ could figure it out, I'm sure."

"But Yuuko-san, you promised I would never have to wear this thing if I wore that stupid clubbing outfit!"

"Oh, but I never said you'd 'never' have to wear it. I just promised that you wouldn't have to wear it that night, and it wouldn't be your mandatory uniform for working here. Surely you should have learned by now to be very cautious when presented with a deal."

The blue-eyed man, who had previously arguing with his employer, knew that the woman was right, now that he thought about it. And the woman, too, seemed to be aware that her part-timer had dug his own hole, and had only now just realized it, based on her amused grin. This, however, did not prevent him from expressing his usual stubbornness in an argument.

"Fine. But do I really have to wear it in front of _him_?" Kimihiro Watanuki demanded, pointing violently in the direction of a certain bartender who was watching the exchange between employee and employer with the usual impassive expression.

"Oh, but Watanuki-kun, he's your _lover_! Besides, Doumeki-kun saved your _life_. He deserves some sort of thanks, don't you think?" Yuuko asked, her voice feigning an innocence that was disproved by her own smirk. The smaller man flushed a little, and grumbled something under his breath that was probably a curse directed at the evil genius that was the Dimensional Witch.

"Fine. I'll go put on this stupid outfit," the volatile man conceded, grabbing the plastic bag that rested by his feet.

"Oooh, Mokona will come too! Mokona will help Watanuki zip up the back!" the black creature, more commonly known as Mokona, exclaimed, leaping onto the bespectacled man's shoulder. The last view the two still sitting in the main lounge got of a certain part-timer and a certain black meat bun was said blue-eyed man glaring and saying something (which was probably a threat) to the bunny-like thing before the door slid shut with a bang behind them.

One of Doumeki's eyebrows rose in question. Just what was he in for if the back of the outfit had to be zipped up? He shrugged off the questions for the moment, though. Sitting here wondering wasn't going to do any good, really.

After a short silence, Yuuko asked her younger companion how his work was going, to which Doumeki said 'fine,' and a conversation began between the two. Of course, it was all small talk, but Doumeki had a feeling Yuuko was just trying to pass the time while they waited for the bespectacled man to return.

Doumeki was starting to get worried when nearly a half hour had passed since Watanuki had left. Was something wrong, or was the man just hesitating? Yuuko, for one, didn't seem all that concerned, but Doumeki wasn't all too sure.

Luckily, Doumeki's worries were eased shortly after when a familiar voice came from the other side of the door.

"Do I really have to come in there?" Watanuki asked, sounding extremely reluctant to come into the room. Doumeki was definitely intrigued, now, especially since Yuuko-san's grin had increased tenfold.

"Yes, Watanuki. You have to come in here. We can't keep poor Doumeki-kun here waiting, now, can we?"

The thin man made no response to this, as the door slowly started to slide open. Mokona bounced through it when there was just enough space for his round frame to fit through, and promptly placed himself on the Time-Space Witch's shoulders. The black creature whispered something in his creator's ears, and the two giggled a little to each other, much like two teenage girls who are sharing some inside joke. Doumeki paid them little mind, instead focusing his attention on the doorway where a pale form was starting to reveal itself.

Finally, the door was completely opened, and Watanuki stood there rather embarrassedly, cheeks dusted lightly with a pale pink hue. Which probably had something to do with the fact that the 22-year-old was currently clad in a midnight blue dress. The torso of the dress was rather form-fitting, designed like a corset, until it reached the hips, where the satin fabric dissolved into a fluffy tulle skirt that fell to about mid-thigh. The dress was royal blue, (which matched Watanuki's eyes nicely), and completely strapless. Silver beads were embroidered profusely throughout the torso, lessening to a much lighter scatter on the skirt of the dress. Doumeki suspected that the dress had been custom-made (probably by Yuuko, or one of her clients), as the torso portion of the dress was completely flat, and had no room to put any sort of breasts the woman wearing the dress might have. The strappy silver heels that rested on Watanuki's feet were probably custom-made, as well, Doumeki thought, because most men didn't wear such things, even in the flamboyantly homosexual community.

Of course, now Doumeki could also understand how Yuuko had meant that this was a 'gift' for him. Seeing this much of Watanuki's pale skin was creating quite a few naughty images in his mind, all of which were rather enjoyable. Especially with that blush decorating the man's cheeks. Had he been anyone else, Doumeki probably would've started cackling madly by now, rubbing his hands together evilly and doing a very good impersonation of a pedo-creeper. Luckily, though, Doumeki was Doumeki, and his normal bored expression remained in place, though a multitude of naughty thoughts were running through his mind. Being a Doumeki certainly had its perks.

"See, I told you it wouldn't be so bad, Watanuki-kun! I can tell, Doumeki-kun is enjoying it, right?" Yuuko asked the bartender. Doumeki nodded firmly in response, grunting his approval. Yuuko and Mokona giggled gleefully at this, while Watanuki just looked to this side, unable to quite meet his lover's eyes at the moment.

"Ugh, whatever. Can I change back into my regular clothes now? I need to start making dinner now if I'm supposed to feed all three of you," Watanuki grumbled, pouting. Doumeki stood as the smaller man spoke, and, acting on an impulse similar to the one that struck him on the first day the two met, strode over to his companion.

Gently, he turned Watanuki's face towards his, admiring how adorable the smaller man's blush was at this distance, and when paired with eyes widened in surprise. Still wearing his ever-stoic expression, he spoke with all seriousness.

"I can help you out of that, if you'd like."

It took the flustered man a few moments to react, but when the golden-eyed man's words sunk in, he responded rather beautifully. The light pink tinge of his face deepened to a healthy red color, and he glared rather menacingly, growling in a rather cat-like manner.

"You _pervert_," he hissed, pushing Doumeki backwards a little in retaliation. Mokona, in the meantime, decided to irritate the poor man even farther, by leaping up to Doumeki's shoulder-level, and hi-fiving the bartender.

"Way to go, Doumeki!" the little black creature cheered, which made Watanuki flush even more.

"I'm going to change, assholes. And, no, I _don't_ need help."

"Awww, he likes it. He knows he does~"

* * *

AN: Blame Hiyami for this one. Though this one, I'll concede, is not _entirely_ her fault. She didn't originally talk about Watanuki in a dress. She just wondered, like many of you, why Watanuki was persuaded into wearing the casual clothes seen in the second interlude. And somehow, I came up with this. But.. yeah. this is how it happened, Watanuki wearing the very un-Watanuki-like casual clothes when he and Doumeki went to the club.

And the dress Watanuki's wearing does, actually, exist. I found it on a site whilst looking at Prom dresses for inspiration for Watanuki's outfit. If you want to see the actual dress, just ask me. the picture I first saw of it, too, was the color described in this fic. Which is why I figured I needed tro put it on Watanuki, lol. though, the fabric that the torso is made up of was completely made up, based on what I thought the picture looked like, lol.

Interesting tidbit; I felt the need to listen to Lady Gaga songs while writing this. Particularly "Bad Romance" and "Poker Face." I may do a crackfic to "Poker Face," but that's not certain. Lol. Who knows.

I hope you enjoyed this little bonus chapter. There will be 2 more to come. :) Don't forget to review, and thanks for all your support! You guys are great.

Until next time!


	19. Bonus 2: Interrogation

Disclaimer: xxxHolic is not, and never has been, mine. ;_;

* * *

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the conversation. And, really, had things been different, he probably wouldn't have even known it was happening. But, very few could survive when Yuuko was manipulating a situation as she wished, and he was definitely not one of those few.

So it was with a complete unawareness that Watanuki "happened" to overhear his employer's voice coming from a room with its door slightly ajar. Of course, he would've just ignored it, had he not heard the other familiar, rather deep, voice replying.

He stopped just behind the door, and peeked around the edge to see Yuuko, with Himawari and Kohane on either side of her. The females' backs were too him, and he could not see what it was they were converged upon, but he had a pretty good idea what it was. Watanuki, now very curious, stayed quiet, and listened to the conversation in the room.

"Now, Doumeki-kun, there's no need to be nervous, but we just want to ask you a couple questions, okay?" Yuuko said. though it was phrased as a question, the statement felt like more of a demand, as both Himawari and Kohane nodded in unison.

"Go right ahead," Doumeki replied, his voice steady and confident. It was good to know he wasn't scared, at least.

Unseen to Watanuki, Yuuko smiled at the man's tone. Of course, most of what she was going to ask she knew the answer to already, judging on the bartender's outstanding character, but she'd always had a more dramatic streak in her, and this was all for her part-timer's benefit, anyway. Stopping that train of thought for now, she addressed the golden-eyed man once more.

"Let's not beat around the bush, then. You've developed an interest for our little Kimi-chan recently, haven't you?"

Doumeki gave the woman a look that clearly said 'no duh,' but still answered verbally, leading to Watanuki's ensuing (and unknown to most in the room) embarrassment.

"Yes."

"I see. You don't have any _untoward_ plans for my part-timer, do you?" the woman continued. One of the bartender's eyebrows rose in question at this, and he was about to say something, before the smaller woman on Yuuko's right clarified.

"She means do you intend to use Watanuki-kun, and then leave him after you're finished using him," Himawari said, managing to look both kindly and menacing all at once. And Doumeki had thought that only Yuuko was capable of that. Clearly, the curly-haired woman had learned something from her senior.

"Never," Doumeki replied, almost before the woman had finished speaking.

Watanuki, in the meantime, had sat down in the hallway, and was no longer peering in the room. In fact, he had covered his face in silent mortification at the realization of what his make-shift 'family' was doing. When he was a teenager, he hadn't really dated anyone, nor had his parents been alive to do a thing like this, had he been dating anyone. But, Watanuki had seen quite a few movies, TV shows, and manga and books in which a teen girl's parents would do something similar to the boys as to what the three women were doing to Doumeki now. Of course, Watanuki, when reading these things, had felt more sorry for the boy at the time, but was now discovering a newfound respect for the girl whose parents were interrogating her date. It really was rather humiliating, in a roundabout sort of way. Though, at the same time, rather flattering that his employer and friends would go through all this trouble for him. Though, at the moment, he was feeling the embarrassment more than the flattery, but it was still there, at least.

"Hmm, you don't seem to be lying," Yuuko mused, "but any liar could have the skill perfected, if he so chose. So, I think it would be beneficial to make sure you know exactly what you're getting into before you go any farther with Watanuki-kun."

Had Doumeki been anyone else, he might've gulped at the way all three of the females were looking at him with expressions of utmost seriousness laced with underlying threats. But, Doumeki was Doumeki, and, though he knew these woman were perfectly capable of being dangerous when they wanted to be, he was not afraid. He didn't have a reason to be, after all, since he had absolutely no intention of inciting their wrath. (He wasn't an idiot, contrary to what Watanuki liked to say.)

"In case the thought should ever even cross your mind, Shizuka Doumeki, remember that if you ever hurt our Watanuki on purpose, or even by accident, we will take equal compensation for the pain you have caused him," Yuuko said in a low voice. Watanuki almost felt freaked out by hearing it, though the embarrassment was once again dominating his emotions, though by a slim margin.

Doumeki, however, was still not frightened. He looked each of the three females in front of him in the eye as he answered in his ever-steady tone.

"I understand."

"Well then, you be sure to take care of Kimi-kun, okay?" the woman asked, her demeanor brightening in a matter of seconds. The two females around her followed her lead, their demeanors changing just as quickly as the Dimensional Witch's.

"Yeah, you make sure to take care of Watanuki-kun. We're passing the torch to you now," Himawari giggled, smiling rather brightly. Doumeki almost thought he could see sparkles coming from the woman, but that was just ridiculous. That only happened in fictional worlds.

"Yes. Kimihiro-kun will be protected in your care," Kohane said, her tone as solemn as it usually was, though her expression sported a small smile. Doumeki couldn't help but smile back at the middle-schooler slightly. Yuuko grinned, and turned around to face the door.

"Oh, and Watanuki-kun, you can stop eavesdropping now~" she called, getting a yelp and a thud in response as Watanuki simultaneously jumped and tripped over himself in surprise. Yuuko and Himawari giggled together, and even Kohane gave a small snort, while Doumeki just sighed quietly. That guy really was an idiot.

Watanuki managed to get up again without incident, and slunk into the room rather bashfully.

"Yuuko-san..." the man began, before the woman cut him off.

"You silly little boy, don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?" she scolded him lightly.

"Well, I-"

"Oh well, what's done is done," Yuuko sighed dramatically, ignoring her part-time worker's attempts to speak. "We'll leave you two alone then to talk things out then, right Himawari-chan? Kohane-chan?"

The two females nodded, having been aware of this plot all along, and allowed themselves to be ushered out of the room by the older woman. After herding the two young women out, Yuuko leaned back into the doorway slightly, grinning in a rather Cheshire cat-like manner.

"We'll be in the next room, boys, so don't do anything too naughty~!"

And with that, she slid the door shut, leaving a very awkward Watanuki alone with the stoic-as-ever Doumeki. The bespectacled man looked around the room, unable to meet his companion's intense golden gaze.

"Well.. that was embarrassing..." the blue-eyed man muttered, a little apologetically. The bartender continued to stare at him, completely unfazed.

After a moment, Watanuki spoke again, finally meeting his silent partner's eyes directly.

"Thank you."

* * *

AN: This is also partly Hiyami's fault. Back around chapter 9, when I asked you guys what I should include in the next chapter (a Himawari/Doumeki/Kohane friendship moment or a continuation of the Watanuki collapsing thing), we got into a conversation about the passing of the torch thing from Kohane to Doumeki with the whole protecting thing. Somewhere along the line, hiyami mentioned a scene similar to this chapter for the Himawari/Kohane/Doumeki chapter. But, as I had already planned that chapter before hat conversation, I wanted to keep the original idea. but, I decided I'd makethis scene an extra at the end, so here it is. I hope everyone enjoys this, lol.

I like the mixture of seriousness and comedy in this. What about you guys?

Also, oh crap, I forgot Mokona again. D: But I don't feel like changing it, so it's staying like this, lol. I'll write a one-shot based on the Mokonas sometime to make up for it. And maybe one with Maru and Moro, because I never seem to include them, either... Wow, I'm a terrible person. xD

I hope everyone had a good New Year's. My Resolutions are to finish this story, finish reading all the multi-chaptered fics I've started but haven't caught up to yet, and write a DouWata smut scene in the next three days. The first one, I'm going to try to finish tomorrow or the day after. The next one.. I'll get around to. And the third one. Well, wish me luck. I'll be attempting to continue the "Daydreaming" sequence. I'm going to try my hardest, so, if you want to read it, look out for that. I will do it, and I will like it. -determined-

Um. Other than that. I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit. One more bonus chapter, and we will be done with this story! Someday, I may continue in this universe. But, for now, only one more chapter remains. Onwards, I march! thanks for all the support! I love you guys. :3


	20. Bonus 3: Conversations

Disclaimer: xxxHolic is not mine. Neither is Invader Zim. I only wish I was that brilliant.

Warning: Utter randomness, lame jokes, excessive crack, and swearing. And a reference to Invader Zim. Read at own risk.

* * *

Conversation 1: In which Watanuki makes a wish.

"The fact that you are here is not coincidence. It means that you have a wish."

"I.. guess that's true..."

"Well then, what is your wish?"

"I want to learn to dance."

x.X.x

Conversation 2: In which Doumeki tells what his price was to save Watanuki's life.

"That time, when I got hurt. When I collapsed."

"Mhm?"

"I was really hurt, wasn't I?"

"Hn."

".... What price did you pay?"

"My third kidney."

x.X.x

Conversation 3: In which Yuuko and Doumeki find out where Watanuki is.

"Oh, hello there, Doumeki-kun. You're looking for Watanuki-kun, yes?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry to say this, but he's out right now."

"Where is he?"

"In a room with a moose."

x.X.x

Conversation 4: In which Himawari discusses Watanuki's sexuality.

"Watanuki-kun!"

"Oh, hello, Himawari-chan! I was on my way to get groceries for Yuuko-san, but do you want to grab a cup of coffee with me on the way?"

"Sure, if it won't make you late for your job."

"Oh no, it's fine. I have every Wednesday afternoon off around this time."

"Really? But you didn't before."

"Yeah, well.. I've been going to this one bar at about this time on a weekly basis."

"Really? Why? I thought you didn't like bars?"

"I don't, but Yuuko-san told me to go, so I could meet my 'destined person.' She said I'd find them there."

"Oh, and did you?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. But the person is really annoying and rude. And he's a guy."

"Oh..."

"What?"

"But.. I thought you were always gay, Watanuki-kun."

x.X.x

Conversation 5: In which Doumeki tells Bradley what he really thinks.

"Well, Watanuki, was it? You seem like a nice guy, and you're hot, so-"

"Oh, no, no, no. You best be backing off _my_ man! Watanuki's mine, ya hear?"

x.X.x

Conversation 6: In which Watanuki swears.

"Oi. Watanuki."

"Oh. My. God. I am going to fuck you up."

x.X.x

Conversation 7: In which Doumeki tells Himawari what he likes.

"Doumeki-kun? What is it that made you want to talk to Watanuki-kun?"

"He's _fiiiiine_ piece of ass."

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AN: ..... Don't ask. All I really had planned for this last chapter was making up a random price Doumeki had to pay to save Watanuki, but I wanted something longer, and.. yeah. Don't even ask. Most of this was created by my own sick mind, except for Conversation 5, which was inspired by a reviewer whom I can't remember at the moment. And also the conversation with the Invader Zim reference in it. (Guess which one it is. ;P)

And now _Bar_ is completed! I'm sorry this is the last thing of this story you were exposed to. Maybe I'll do another story as a prequel of sorts. But that's still undecided. I hope you guys enjoyed the rest of the story! Thanks for all the support! You guys are the best~!

Becca out.


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